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^^^^-^.^ 



THE 

LIFE AND LEITTERS 



OF 



LEWIS CARROLL 

(REV. C. L. DODGSON) 



BY 

STUART DODGSON COLLINGWOOD 

B.A. CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD 



*fllIu0trate^ 



PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. 
NEW YORK, MDCCCXCIX 



-fR-tti?- 



,C4 

, <- '■( ^'1 '^•■• 



Copyright, 1898, by 

The Century Co. 






TO THE 

CHILD FRIENDS 
OF 

LEWIS CARROLL 

AND TO ALL WHO LOVE HIS WRITINGS 
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 



PREFACE 



IT is with no undue confidence that I have 
accepted the invitation of the brothers and 
sisters of Lewis Carroll to write this Memoir. 
I am well aware that the path of the biographer is 
beset with pitfalls, and that, for him, stippressio 
veri is almost necessarily sziggestio falsi — the 
least omission may distort the whole picture. 

To write the life of Lewis Carroll as it should 
be written would tax the powers of a man of far 
greater experience and insight than I have any 
pretension to possess, and even he would pro- 
bably fail to represent adequately such a complex 
personality. At least I have done my best 
to justify their choice, and if in any way I have 
wronged my uncle's memory, unintentionally, I 
trust that my readers will pardon me. 



X PREFACE 

My task has been a delightful one. Intimatel}^ 
as I thought I knew Mr. Dodgson during his. 
life, I seem since his death to have become still 
better acquainted with him. If this Memoir 
helps others of his admirers to a fuller knowledge 
of a man whom to know was to love, I shall not 
have written in vain. 

I take this opportunity of thanking those who 
have so kindly assisted me in my work, and first 
I must mention my old schoolmaster, the Rev. 
Watson H agger, M.A., to whom my readers are 
indebted for the portions of this book dealing 
with Mr. Dodofson's mathematical works. I am 
greatly indebted to Mr. Dodgson's relatives, and 
to all those kind friends of his and others who 
have aided me, in so many ways, in my difficult 
task. In particular, I may mention the .names 
of H.R. H. the Duchess of Albany; Miss Dora 
Abdy ; Mrs. Egerton Allen ; Rev. F. H. Atkin- 
son ; Sir G. Baden-Powell, M.P. ; Mr. A. Ball; 
Rev. T. Vere Bayne ; Mrs. Bennie ; Miss Blake- 
more ; the Misses Bowman ; Mrs. Boyes ; Mrs. 
Bremer ; Mrs. Brine ; Miss Mary Brown ; Mrs. 
Calverley ; Miss Gertrude Chataway ; Mrs. 
Chester; Mr. J. C. Cropper; Mr. Robert Davies ; 
INIiss Decima Dodgson; the Misses Dymes; Mrs. 



4 



PREFACE xi 

Eschwege ; Mrs. Fuller ; Mr. Harry Furniss ; 
Rev. C. A. Goodhart ; Mrs. Hargrreaves ; Miss 
Rose Harrison ; Mr. Henry Holiday ; Rev. H. 
Hopley ; Miss Florence Jackson ; Rev. A. Kings- 
ton ; Mrs. Kitchin ; Mrs. Freiligrath Kroeker ; 
Mr. F. Madan ; Mrs. Maitland ; Miss M. E. 
Manners ; Miss Adelaide Paine ; Mrs. Porter ; 
Miss Edith Rix ; Rev. C. J. Robinson, D.D. ; 
Mr. S. Rogers; Mrs. Round; Miss Isabel 
Standen ; Mr. L. Sergeant ; Miss Gaynor 
Simpson ; Mrs. Southwall ; Sir John Tenniel ; 
Miss E. Gertrude Thomson ; Mrs. Woodhouse ; 
and Mrs. Wyper. 

For their help in the work of compiling the 
Bibliographical chapter and some other parts of 
the book, my thanks are due to Mr. E. Baxter, 
Oxford ; the Controller of the University Press, 
Oxford ; Mr. A. J. Lawrence, Rugby ; Messrs. 
Macmillan and Co., London ; Mr. James Parker, 
Oxford ; and Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co., 
London 

In the extracts which I have given from Mr. 
Dodgson's Journal and Correspondence it will 
be noticed that Italics have been somewhat freely 
employed to represent the words which he under- 
lined. The use of Italics was so marked a feature 



xii PREFACE 

of his literary style, as any one who has read 
his books must have observed, that without 
their aid the rhetorical effect, which he always 
strove to produce, would have been seriously 
marred. 



S. DODGSON COLLINGWOOD. 



Guildford, 

September, 1898. 



CONTENTS 



Preface ix 

List of Illustrations xvii 

CHAPTER I (1832-1850) 

Lewis Carroll's forebears — The Bishop of Elphin — Murder of 
Captain Dodgson — Daresbury — Living in "Wonderland" — Croft 
— Boyish amusements — His first school — Latin verses — A 
good report — He goes to Rugby — The Rectory Umbrella — " A 
Lay of Sorrow " 3 

CHAPTER n (1850-1860) 

Matriculation at Christ Church — Death of Mrs. Dodgson — The 
Great Exhibition — University and College Honours — A wonderful 
year — A theatrical treat — Misch-Masch — TJie Train — College 
Rhymes — His noin deplume — " Dotheboys Hall " — Alfred Tennyson 
— Ordination — Sermons — A visit to Farringford — "Where does 
the day begin ? " — The Queen visits Oxford .... 45 

CHAPTER HI (1861-1867) 

Jowett — Index to " In Memoriam " — The Tennysons — The be- 
ginning of " Alice " — Tenniel — Artistic friends — " Alice's Adven- 
tures in Wonderland" — "Bruno's Revenge" — Tour with Dr. 
Liddon — Cologne — Berlin architecture — The " Majesty of 
Justice " — Peterhof — Moscow — A Russian wedding — Xijni- The 
Troitska Monastery — " Hieroglyphic " writing — Giessen . . 89 

xiii 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV (1868-1876) 

PAGE 

Death of Archdeacon Dodgson — Lewis Carroll's rooms at 
Christ Church — " Phantasmagoria " — Translations of " Alice " — 
"Through the Looking-Glass " — " Jabbervvocky " in Latin — C. S. 
Calverley — " Notes by an Oxford Chiel " — Hatfield — Vivisection 
— " The Hunting of the Snark " 129 

CHAPTER V (1877-1883) 

Dramatic tastes — Miss Ellen Terry — " Natural Science at 
Oxford " — Mr. Dodgson as an artist — Miss E. G. Thomson — The 
drawing of children — A curious dream — "The Deserted Parks" 
— " Syzygies " — Circus children — Row-loving undergraduates — A 
letter to The Observer — Resignation of the Lectureship — He is 
elected Curator of the Common Room — Dream-music . . 177 

CHAPTER VI (1883-1887) 

"The Proiits of Authorship" — " Rhyme ? and Reason?" — The 
Common Room Cat — Visit to Jersey — Purity of elections — 
Parliamentary Representation — Various literary projects — Letters 
to Miss E. Rix— Being happy — "A Tangled Tale" — Religious 
arguments — The " Alice " Operetta — " Alice's Adventures Under- 
ground "^"The Game of Logic" — Mr. Harry Furniss 226 

CHAPTER VII (1888-1891) 

A systematic life — " Memoria Technica " — Mr. Dodgson's shyness 
— "A Lesson in Latin" — The "Wonderland" Stamp-Case — 
■' Wise Words about Letter- Writing " — Princess Alice — " Sylvie 
and Bruno"— "The night cometh " — "The Nursery 'Alice'" — 
Coventry Patmore — Telepathy — Resignation of Dr. Liddell — A 
letter about Logic 265 

CHAPTER VIII (1892-1896) 

Mr. Dodgson resigns the Curatorship — Bazaars — He lectures to 
children — A mechanical " Humpty Dumpty " — A logical contro- 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

versy — Albert Chevalier — " Sylvie and Bruno Concluded " — 
" Pillow Problems " — Mr. Dodgson's generosity — College services 
— Religious difficulties — A village sermon — Plans for the future — 
Reverence — " Symbolic Logic " 302 



CHAPTER IX (1897-1898) 

Logic-lectures — Irreverent anecdotes — Tolerance of his religious 
views — A mathematical discovery — "The Little Minister" — Sir 
George Baden-Powell — Last illness — " Thy will be done " — 
"Wonderland" at last ! — Letters from friends — "Three Sunsets" 
— " Of such is the kingdom of Heaven " 333 

CHAPTER X 

CHILD FRIENDS 

Mr. Dodgson's fondness for children — Miss Isabel Standen — 
Puzzles — " Me and Myself " — A double acrostic — " Father 
William " — Of drinking healths — Kisses by post — Tired in the 
face — The unripe plum — Eccentricities — " Sylvie and Bruno " — 
" Mr. Dodgson is going on well " 359 

CHAPTER XI 

THE SAME — continued 

Books for children — " The Lost Plum-Cake " — " An Unexpected 
Guest " — Miss Isa Bowman — Interviews — " Matilda Jane " — Miss 
Edith Rix — Miss Kathleen Eschwege 395 

Bibliography 431 

Index .... 445 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

LEWIS CARROLL Frontispiece 

(From a photograph.) 
ARCHDEACON DODGSON AS A YOTJNG MAN 2 

[Front a miniature, painted about 1826.) 
DARESBURY PARSONAGE, LEWIS CARROLL'S BIRTHPLACE . . 10 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
LEWIS CARROLL, AGED 8 II 

(From a silhouette.) 
MRS. DODGSON, LEWIS CARROLL'S MOTHER I3 

(From a silhouette.) 
CROFT RECTORY ; ARCHDEACON DODGSON AND FAMILY IN FORE- 
GROUND 18 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1856.) 
TOY STATION IN GARDEN AT CROFT 20 

(From a photograph.) 
ARCHBISHOP TAIT 27 

(From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.) 
" THE ONLY SISTER WHO WOULD WRITE TO HER BROTHER " . 32 

(From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
"THE AGE OF INNOCENCE" 33 

(From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
"THE SCANTY MEAL" 34 

(From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
"THE FIRST earring" 3^ 

(From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
ILLUSTRATIONS TO " LAYS OF SORROW," NO. 2 . . . 37-42 

(From drawings by Lewis Carroll.) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 
EXTERIOR OF CHRIST CHURCH 44 

{From a photograph.) 
GRAVE OF ARCHDEACON AND MRS. DODGSON IN CROFT CHURCH- 
YARD 48 

{From a photograph.) 
LEWIS CARROLL, AGED 23 50 

{From a photograph.) 
ARCHDEACON DODGSON 54 

{From a photograph.) 
ARCHBISHOP LONGLEY 57 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
" ALAS ! WHAT BOOTS " 63 

(From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
ALFRED TENNYSON 70 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1857.) 
THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN 73 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875.) 
BISHOP WILBERFORCE 75 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, i860.) 
ALICE LIDDELL AS "THE BEGGAR-CHILD" 80 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1858.) 
SKETCH FROM ST. LEONARD'S CONCERT-ROOM .... 82 

{From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 
GEORGE MACDONALD AND HIS DAUGHTER LILY .... 84 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.) 
MRS. ROSSETTI AND HER CHILDREN, DANTE GABRIEL, CHRISTINA, 

AND WILLIAM 88 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.) 
LORINA, ALICE, AND EDITH LIDDELL 94 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
GEORGE MACDONALD 98 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1870.) 
J. SANT, R.A 100 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1866.) 
HOLMAN HUNT IO3 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, i860.) 
SIR JOHN MILLAIS I05 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1865.) 
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE I08 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1866.) 
CANON LIDDON 112 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1867.) \ 

"INSTANCE OF HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING OF THE DATE 1867 " 124! 

(From a sketch by Lewis Carroll.) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



LEWIS 

147-149 
. 158 



SIR JOHN TENNIEL . 

(From a photograph by Bassaiio.) 
LEWIS CARROLL'S STUDY AT CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD 

(From a photograph.) 
PROFESSOR FARADAY 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, i860.) 
JUSTICE DENMAN ... ... 

{Front a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1873 ) 
LORD SALISBURY AND HIS TWO SONS 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1870.) 
FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM SIR JOHN TENNIEL TO 

CARROLL, DATED JUNE I, 187O. 
JOHN RUSKIN 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875. 
HENRY HOLIDAY IN HIS STUDIO 

{From a photograph.) 
LEWIS CARROLL 

{From a photograph.) 
ELLEN TERRY 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
TOM TAYLOR 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863. 
KATE TERRY 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1865. 
MISS E. GERTRUDE THOMSON . 

{From a photograph.) 
DR. LIDDELL 

{From a photograph by Hill & Saunders.) 
" RESPONSIONS " 

{From a photograph by A. T. Shrimptoii.) 
H. FURNISS 

{From a photograph.) 
" BALBUS AND THE DRAGON " . 

{From a crayon drawing by the Rev. H. C. Gaye.) 
MEDLEY OF TENNIEL'S ILLUSTRATIONS IN "ALICE" 

{From an etching by Miss WhiteJiead.) 
FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM H. FURNISS TO LEWIS CARROLL, 

DATED AUGUST 23, 1886 262 

SYLVIE AND BRUNO 

{From a drawing by Henry Holiday.) 
FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME OF "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" PRO- 
DUCED AT THE ROYAL GLOBE THEATRE, DECEMBER 26, 1888 
" THE MAD TEA PARTY " 

{From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.) 



P.\GE 

128 



134 
135 
137 
141 



172 
176 
182 

185 
186 
194 
213 
220 

239 

246 

255 



2b3 
264 



279 
280 



XX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE LATE DUKE OF ALBANY 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875.) 
THE DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH .... 

{From- a photograph by Hill & Saunders.) 
THE MECHANICAL " HUMPTY DUMPTY " 

{From a photograph.) 
LEWIS CARROLL 

[From a photograph.) 
THE CHESTNUTS, GUILDFORD 

{Front a photograph.) 
LEWIS CARROLL'S GRAVE 

{From a photograph.) 
LORINA AND ALICE LIDDELL 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
ALICE LIDDELL 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
XIE KITCHIN 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
XIE KITCHIN AS A CHINAMAN 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 
ALICE AND THE DORMOUSE 

{From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.) 
FACSIMILE OF A " LOOKING-GLASS " LETTER FROM LEWIS 

TO MISS EDITH BALL 

ARTHUR HUGHES AND HIS DAUGHTER AGNES 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.) 
"WHAT I LOOK LIKE WHEN I'M LECTURING" 

{From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 



PAGE 
287 

296 

334 
346 
350 
358 
366 
368 
396 
400 



CARROLL 

• 414,415 
. 421 

• 425 



A 




ARCHDEACON DODGSON AS A YOUNG MAN. 



CHAPTER I 

(1832-1850.) 

Lewis Carroll's forebears — The Bishop of Elphin — -Murder of 
Captain Dodgson — Daresbury — Living in " Wonderland " 
— Croft — Boyish amusements — His first school — Latin 
verses — A good report — He goes to Rugby — The Rectory 
Umbrella — " A Lay of Sorrow." 

THE Dodgsons appear to have been for a 
long time connected with the north of 
England, and until quite recently a branch 
of the family resided at Stubb Hall, near Barnard 
Castle. 

In the early part of the last century a certain 
Rev. Christopher Dodgson held a living in York- 
shire. His son, Charles, also took Holy Orders, 
and was for some time tutor to a son of the then 
Duke of Northumberland. In 1762 his patron 
presented him to the living of Elsdon, in Northum- 
berland, by no means a desirable cure, as Mr. 



4 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Dodorson discovered. The followino- extracts 
from his letters to various members of the Percy 
family are interesting as giving some idea of the 
life of a rural clergyman a hundred years ago : — 

I am obliged to you for promising to write to me, but don't 
give yourself the trouble of writing to this place, for 'tis almost 
impossible to receive 'em, without sending a messenger i6 
miles to fetch 'em. 

'Tis impossible to describe the oddity of my situation at 
present, which, however, is not void of some pleasant circum- 
stances. 

A clogmaker combs out my wig upon my curate's head, 
by way of a block, and his wife powders it with a dredging- 
box. 

The vestibule of the castle (used as a temporary parsonage) 
is a low stable ; above it the kitchen, in which are two little 
beds joining to each other. The curate and his wife lay in 
one, and Margery the maid in the other. I lay in the parlour 
between two beds to keep me from being frozen to death, for 
as we keep open house the winds enter from every quarter, 
and are apt to sweep into bed to me. 

Elsdon was once a market town as some say, and a city 
according to others ; but as the annals of the parish were lost 
several centuries ago, it is impossible to determine what age it 
was either the one or the other. 

There are not the least traces of the former grandeur to be 
found, whence some antiquaries are apt to believe that it lost 
both its trade and charter at the Deluge. 

. . . There is a very good understanding between the 
parties [he is speaking of the Churchmen and Presbyterians 
who lived in the parish], for they not only intermarry with 
one another, but frequently do penance together in a whitj 
sheet, with a white wand, barefoot, and in the coldest season 



LEWIS CARROLL 5 

of the year. I have not finished the description for fear of 
bringing on a fit of the ague. Indeed, the ideas of sensation 
are sufficient to starve a man to death, without having re- 
course to (hose of reflection. 

If I was not assured by the best authority on earth that the 
world is to be destroyed by fire, I should conclude that the 
day of destruction is at hand, but brought on by means of an 
agent very opposite to that of heat. 

I have lost the use of everything but my reason, though my 
head is entrenched in three night-caps, and my throat, which 
is very bad, is fortified by a pair of stockings twisted in the 
form of a cravat. 

As washing is very cheap, I wear two shirts at a time, and, 
for want of a wardrobe, I hang my great coat upon my own 
back, and generally keep on my boots in imitation of my 
namesake of Sweden. Indeed, since the snow became two 
feet deep (as I wanted a ' chaappin of Yale ' from the public- 
house), I made an offer of them to Margery the maid, but 
her legs are too thick to make use of them, and I am told 
that the greater part of my parishioners are not less sub- 
stantial, and notwithstanding this they are remarkable for 
agility. 

In course of time this Mr. Dodgson became 
Bishop of Ossory and Ferns, and he was subse- 
quently translated to the see of Elphin. He was 
warmly congratulated on this change in his for- 
tunes by George III., who said that he ought 
indeed to be thankful to have got away from a 
palace where the stabling was so bad. 
j The Bishop had four children, the eldest of 
whom, Elizabeth Anne, married Charles Lut- 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



widge, of Holmrook, in Cumberland. Two of 
the others died almost before they had attained 
manhood. Charles, the eldest son, entered the 
army, and rose to the rank of captain in the 
4th Dragoon Guards. He met with a sad fate 
while serving his king and country in Ireland. 
One of the Irish rebels who were supposed t,o 
have been concerned in the murder of Lord 
Kilwarden offered to give himself up to justice 
if Captain Dodgson would come alone and at 
night to take him. Though he fully realised 
the risk, the brave captain decided to trust 
himself to the honour of this outlaw, as he felt 
that no chance should be missed of effecting so 
important a capture. Having first written a 
letter of farewell to his wife, he set out on the 
night of December 16, 1803, accompanied by a 
few troopers, for the meeting-place — an old hut 
that stood a mile or so from Phillipstown, in 
King's County. In accordance with the terms 
of the agreement, he left his men a few hundred 
yards from the hut to await his return, and 
advanced alone through the night. A cowardly 
shot from one of the windows of the cottage 
ended his noble life, and alarmed the troopers, 
who, coming up in haste, were confronted with 






LEWIS CARROLL 7 

the dead body of their leader. The story is told 
that on the same night his wife heard two shots 
fired, and made inquiry about it, but could find 
out nothing. Shortly afterwards the news came 
that her husband had been killed just at that 
time. 

Captain Dodgson left two sons behind him — 
Hassard, who, after a brilliant career as a special 
pleader, became a Master of the Court of Common 
Pleas, and Charles, the father of the subject of 
this Memoir. 

Charles, who was the elder of the two, was 
born in the year 1800, at Hamilton, in Lanark- 
shire. He adopted the clerical profession, in 
which he rose to hip'h honours. He was a dis- 
tinguished scholar, and took a double first at 
Christ Church, Oxford. Although in after life 
mathematics were his favourite pursuit, yet the 
fact that he translated Tertullian for the" Library 
of the Fathers " is sufficient evidence that he 
made good use of his classical education. In the 
controversy about Baptismal Regeneration he 
took a prominent part, siding on the question 
with the Tractarians, though his views on some 
c ther points of Church doctrine were less advanced 
than those of the leaders of the Oxford movement. 



8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

He was a man of deep piety and of a somewhat 
reserved and grave disposition, which, however, 
was tempered by the most generous charity, so 
that he was universally loved by the poor. In 
moments of relaxation his wit and humour were 
the delight of his clerical friends, for he had the 
rare power of telling anecdotes effectively. His 
reverence for sacred thing-s was so great that he 
was never known to relate a story which included 
a jest upon words from the Bible. 

In 1830 he married his cousin, Frances Jane 
Lutwidge, by whom he had eleven children, all of 
whom, except Lewis Carroll, survive. His wife, 
in the words of one who had the best possible 
opportunities for observing her character, was 
" one of the sweetest and gentlest women that 
ever lived, whom to know was to love. The 
earnestness of her simple faith and love shone 
forth in all she did and said ; she seemed to live 
always in. the conscious presence of God. It has 
been said by her children that they never in all 
their lives remember to have heard an impatient 
or harsh word from her lips." It is easy to trace 
in Lewis Carroll's character the influence of that 
most gentle of mothers; though dead she stiil 
speaks to us in some of the most beautiful and 



LEWIS CARROLL 9 

touching passages of his works. Not so long ago 
I had a conversation with an old friend of his ; 
one of the first things she said to me was, " Tell 
me about his mother." I complied with her re- 
quest as well as I was able, and, when I had 
finished my account of Mrs. Dodgson's beautiful 
character, she said, " Ah, I knew it must have 
been so ; I felt sure he must have had a good 
mother." 

On January 27, 1832, Charles Lutwidge 
Dodgson was born at Daresbury, of which parish 
his father was then incumbent. The villag-e of 
Daresbury is about seven miles from Warrington ; 
its name is supposed to be derived from a word 
meaning oak, and certainly oaks are very plentiful 
in the neighbourhood. A canal passes through 
an outlying part of the parish. The bargemen 
who frequented this canal were a special object 
of Mr. Dodgson's pastoral care. Once, when 
walking with Lord Francis Egerton, who was a 
large landowner in the district, he spoke of his 
desire to provide some sort of religious privileges 
for them. " If I only had ^100," he said, " I 
would turn one of those barges into a chapel," 
and, at his companion's request, he described 
exactly how he would have the chapel constructed 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL ii 

and furnished. A few weeks later he received a 
letter from Lord Francis to tell him that his wish 
was fulfilled, and that the chapel was ready. In 
this strange church, which is believed to have 
been the first of its kind, Mr. Dodgson conducted 
service and preached every Sunday evening! 

The parsonage is situated a mile and a half 
from the village, on the glebe-farm, 
having been erected by a former 
incumbent, who, it was said, cared 
more for the glebe than the parish. 
Here it was that Charles spent the 
first eleven years of his life — years 
of complete seclusion from the 
world, for even the passing of a cart 
was a matter of great interest to the 
cnilciren. lewis carroll, 

y. In this quiet home the boy in- ^'^^^ ^' 
vented the stranc{est diversions for himself; he 
made pets of the most odd and unlikely animals, 
and numbered certain snails and toads amonor 
his intimate friends. He tried also to encourage 
civilised warfare among earthworms, by sup- 
plying them with small pieces of pipe, with 
which they might fight if so disposed. His 
notions of charity at this early age were 




12 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

somewhat rudimentary ; he used to peel rushes 
with the idea that the pith would afterwards 
"be given to the poor," though what possible 
use they could put it to he never attempted 
to explain. Indeed he seems at this time to 
have actually lived in that charming " Wonder- 
land " which he afterwards described so vividly ; 
but for all that he was a thorough boy, and loved 
to climb the trees and to scramble about in the 
old marl-pits.--^ 

One of the few breaks in this very uneventful 
life was a holiday spent with the other members of 
his family in Beaumaris. The journey took three 
days each way, for railroads were then almost 
unknown ; and whatever advantages coaching 
may have had over travelling in trains, speed was 
certainly not one of them. 

Mr. Dodgrson from the first used to take an 
active part in his son's education, and the following 
anecdote will show that he had at least a pupil 
who was anxious to learn. One day, when Charles 
was a very small boy, he came up to his father 
and showed him a book of logarithms, with the 
request, " Please explain." Mr. Dodgson told 
him that he was much too young to understand 
anything about such a difficult subject. The 



LEWIS CARROLL 13 

child listened to what his father said, and appeared 
to think it irrelevant, for he still insisted, " Bzd, 
please, explain ! " 

On one occasion Mr. and Mrs. Dodo-son went 
to Hull, to pay a visit to 
the latter's father, who 
had been seriously ill. 
From Hull Mrs. Dodgson 
wrote to Charles, and he 
set much store by this 
letter, which was probably 
one of the first he had 
received. He was afraid 
that some of his little 
sisters would mess it, or 
tear it up, so he wrote 
upon the back, " No one 
is to touch this note, for 
it belongs to C. L. D. " ; 
but, this warning appear- 
ing insufficient, he added, 
" Covered with slimy 
pitch, so that they will wet their fingers." The 
precious letter ran as follows : — 

My Dearest Charlie, — I have used you rather ill in not 
having written to you sooner, but I know you will forgive me. 




MRS. DODGSON. 



14 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

as your Grandpapa has liked to have me with him so much, 
and I could not write and talk to him comfortably. All your 
notes have delighted me, my precious children, and show me 
that you have not quite forgotten me. I am always thinking 
of you, and longing to have you all round me again more than 
words can tell. God grant that we may find you all well and 
happy on Friday evening. I am happy to say your dearest 
Papa is quite well — his cough is rather tickling, but is of no 
consequence. It delights me, my darling Charlie, to hear that 
you are getting on so well with your Latin, and that you make 
so few mistakes in your Exercises. You will be happy to hear 
that your dearest Grandpapa is going on nicely — indeed I hope 
he will soon be quite well again. He talks a great deal and 
most kindly about you all. I hope my sweetest Will says 
" Mama " sometimes, and that precious Tish has not forgotten. 
Give them and all my other treasures, including yourself, 
1,000,000,000 kisses from me, with my most affectionate love. 
I am sending you a shabby note, but I cannot help it. Give my 
kindest love to Aunt Dar, and believe me, my own dearest 
Charlie, to be your sincerely affectionate 

Mama. 

Among the few visitors who disturbed the 
repose of Daresbury Parsonage was Mr. Durn- 
ford, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, with whom 
Mr. Dodgson had formed a clo.se friendship. 
Another was Mr. Bayne, at that time head-master 
of Warrinofton Grammar School, who used occa- 
sionally to assist in the services at Daresbury. 
His son, Vere, was Charles's playfellow ; he is 
now a student of Christ Church, and the friend- 
ship between him and Lewis Carroll lasted 



LEWIS CARROLL 15 

without interruption till the death of the 
latter. 

The memory of his birthplace did not soon 
fade from Charles's mind ; long afterwards he 
retained pleasant recollections of its rustic beauty. 
For instance, his poem of "The Three Sunsets," 
which first appeared in i860 in A// the Year 
Round, begins with the following stanzas, which 
have been slightly altered in later editions : — 

I watch the drowsy night expire, 
And Fancy paints at my desire 
Her magic pictures in the fire. 

An island farm, 'mid seas of corn, 
Swayed by the wandering breath of morn, 
The happy spot where I was born. 

Though nearly all Mr. Dodgson's parishioners 
at Daresbury have passed away, yet there are 
still some few left who speak with loving reverence 
of him whose lips, now long silenced, used to 
speak so kindly to them ; whose hands, long 
folded in sleep, were once so ready to alleviate 
their wants and sorrows. 

In 1843 Sir Robert Peel presented him to the 
Crown livinor of Croft, a Yorkshire villao-e about 
three miles south of Darlington. This prefer- 



i6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ment made a great change in the Hfe of the 
family ; it opened for them many more social 
opportunities, and put an end to that Hfe of 
seclusion which, however beneficial it may be for 
a short time, is apt, if continued too long, to have 
a cramping and narrowing influence. 

The river Tees is at Croft the dividing line 
between Yorkshire and Durham, and on the 
middle of the bridge which there crosses it is a 
stone which shows where the one county ends 
and the other begins. " Certain lands are held 
in this place," says Lewis in his "Topographical 
Dictionary," " by the owner presenting on the 
bridge, at the coming of every new Bishop of 
Durham, an old sword, pronouncing a legendary 
address, and delivering the sword to the Bishop, 
who returns it immediately." The Tees is subject 
to extraordinary floods, and though Croft Church 
stands many feet above the ordinary level of the 
river, and is separated from it by the churchyard 
and a field, yet on one occasion the church itself 
was flooded, as was attested by water-marks on 
the old woodwork several feet from the floor, still 
to be seen when Mr. Dodgson was incumbent. 

This church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, 
is a quaint old building with a Norman porch, 



LEWIS CARROLL 17 

the rest of it being of more modern construction. 
It contains a raised pew, which is approached by 
a winding- flight of stairs, and is covered in, so 
that it resembles nothing so much as a four-post 
bedstead. This pew used to belong to the 
Milbanke family, with which Lord Byron was 
connected. Mr. Dodgson found the chancel-roof 
in so bad a state of repair that he was obliged to 
take it down, and replace it by an entirely new 
one. The only village school that existed when 
he came to the place was a sort of barn, which 
stood in a corner of the churchyard. During his 
incumbency a fine school-house was erected. 
Several members of his family used regularly to 
help in teaching the children, and excellent reports 
were obtained. 

The Rectory is close to the church, and stands 
in the middle of a beautiful garden. The former 
incumbent had been an enthusiastic horticulturist, 
and the walls of the kitchen garden were covered 
with luxuriant fruit-trees, while the greenhouses 
were well stocked with rare and beautiful exotics. 
Among these was a specimen of that fantastic 
cactus, the night-blowing Cereus, whose flowers, 
after an existence of but a few hours, fade with 
the waning sun. On the day when this occurred 



VHE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL lo 

/ 

'large numbers of people used to obtain Mr. 
/ Dodgson's leave to see the curiosity. 
/' Near the Rectory is a fine hotel, built when 
Croft was an important posting-station for the 
coaches between London and Edinburgh, but in. 
Mr. Dodgson's time chiefly used by gentlemen 
who stayed there during the hunting season. 
The villagfe is renowned for its baths and medi- 
cinal waters. The parish of Croft includes the 
outlying hamlets of Halnaby, Dalton, and Staple- 
ton, so that the Rector's position is by no means 
a sinecure. Within the village is Croft Hall, 
the old seat of the Chaytors ; but during Mr. 
( Dodgson's incumbency the then Sir William 
s Chaytor built and lived at Clervaux Castle, 
y calling it by an old family name. 

Shortly after accepting the living of Croft, Mr. 
Dodgson was appointed examining chaplain to 
the Bishop of Ripon ; subsequently he was made 
Archdeacon of Richmond and one of the Canons 
of Ripon Cathedral. 

Charles was at this time very fond of inventing 
cfames for the amusement of his brothers and 
sisters ; he constructed a rude train out of a 
wheelbarrow, a barrel and a small truck, which 
used to convey passengers from one "station " 



20 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



in the Rectory garden to another. At each of 
these stations there was a refreshment-room, and 
the passengers had to purchase tickets from him 
before they could enjoy their ride. The boy was 
also a clever conjuror, and, arrayed In a brown 
wig and a long white robe, used to cause no little 



^ 




TOY STATION IN GARDEN AT CROFT. 

wonder to his audience by his sleight-of-hand. 
With the assistance of various members of the 
family and the village carpenter, he made a 
troupe of marionettes and a small theatre for 
them to act in. He wrote all the plays himself — 
the most popular being " The Tragedy of King 



LEWIS CARROLL 21 

John " — and he was very clever at manipulating 
the innumerable strings by which the movements 
of his puppets were regulated. One winter, 
when the snow lay thick upon the lawn, he 
traced upon it a maze of such hopeless intricacy 
as almost to put its famous rival at Hampton 
Court in the shade. 

When he was twelve years old his father sent 
him to school at Richmond, under Mr, Tate, a 
worthy son of that well-known Dr. Tate who had 
made Richmond School so famous. 

I am able to give his earliest impressions of 
school-life in his own words, for one of his first 
letters home has been fortunately preserved. It 
is dated August 5th, and is addressed to his two 
eldest sisters. A boy who has Un brothers and 
sisters can scarcely be expected to write separate 
letters to each of them. 

My dear Fanny and Memy, — I hope you are all getting 
on well, as also the sweet twins, the boys I think that I 
like the best, are Harry Austin, and all the Tates of which 
there are 7 besides a little girl who came down to dinner 
the first day, but not since, and I also like Edmund Tremlet, 
and William and Edward Swire, Tremlet is a sharp little 
fellow about 7 years old, the youngest in the school, I also 
like Kemp and Mawley. The rest of the boys that I know 
are Bertram, Harry and Dick Wilson, and two Robinsons, I 
will tell you all about them when I return. The boys have 



22 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

played two tricks upon me which were these — they first pro- 
posed to play at " King of the Cobblers " and asked if I 
would be king, to which I agreed. Then they made me sit 
down and sat (on the ground) in a circle round me, and told 
me to say " Go to work " which I said, and they immediately 
began kicking me and knocking me on all sides. The next 
game they proposed was " Peter, the red lion," and they made 
a mark on a tombstone (for we were playing in the church- 
yard) and one of the boys walked with his eyes shut, holding 
out his finger, trying to touch the mark ; then a little boy 
came forward to lead the rest and led a good many very 
near the mark ; at last it was my turn ; they told me to shut 
my eyes well, and the next minute I had my finger in the 
mouth of one of the boys, who had stood (I believe) before 
the tombstone with his mouth open. For 2 nights I slept 
alone, and for the rest of the time with Ned Swire. The boys 
play me no tricks now. The only fault (tell Mama) that 
there has been was coming in one day to dinner just after 
grace. On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and 
sat in a large pew with Mr. Fielding, the church we went to 
is close by Mr. Tate's house, we did not go in the afternoon 
but Mr. Tate read a discourse to the boys on the 5th com- 
mandment. We went to church again in the evening. Papa 
wished me to tell him all the texts I had heard preached upon, 
please to tell him that I could not hear it in the morning nor 
hardly one sentence of the sermon, but the one in the evening 
was I Cor. i. 23. I believe it was a farewell sermon, but I am 
not sure. Mrs. Tate has looked through my clothes and left 
in the trunk a great many that will not be wanted. I have 
had 3 misfortunes in my clothes etc. i" I cannot find my 
tooth-brush, so that I have not brushed my teeth for 3 or 4 
days, 2"" I cannot find my blotting paper, and 3'" I have no 
shoe-horn. The chief games are, football, wrestling, leap frog, 
and fighting. Excuse bad writing. 

y affec' brother Charles. 



* LEWIS CARROLL 2^ 

To Skeff [rt younger brotlier, aged six']. 

My dear Skeff, — 

Roar not lest thou be abolished. 

Yours, etc., — — . 

The discomforts which he, as a "new boy," 
had to put up with from his school-mates affected 
him as they do not, unfortunately, affect most 
boys, for in later school days he was famous as 
a champion of the weak and small, while every 
bully had good reason to fear him. Though it 
is hard for those who have only known him as 
the gentle and retiring don to believe it, it is 
nevertheless true that long after he left school 
his name was remembered as that of a boy who 
knew well how to use his fists in defence of a 
rigfhteous cause. 

As was the custom at that time, Charles beofan 
to compose Latin verses at a very early age, his 
first copy being dated November 25, 1844, 
The subject was evening, and this is how he 
treated it : — 

Phoebus aqua splendet descendens, sequora tingens 
Splendore aurato. Pervenit umbra solo. 

Mortales lectos quaerunt, et membra relaxant 
Fessa labore dies ; cuncta per orbe silet. 

Imperium placidum nunc sumit Phoebe corusca. 
Antris procedunt sanguine ore ferae. 



24 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

These lines the boy solemnly copied into his 
Diary, apparently in the most blissful ignorance 
of the numerous mistakes they contained. 

The next year he wrote a story which appeared 
in the school magazine. It was called " The 
Unknown One," so it was probably of the sensa- 
tional type in which small boys usually revel. 

Though Richmond School, as it was in 1844, 
may not compare favourably in every respect 
with a modern preparatory school, where super- 
vision has been so far " reduced to the absurd" 
that the unfortunate masters hardly get a minute 
to themselves from sunrise till long after sunset, 
yet no better or wiser men than those of the 
school of Mr. Tate are now to be found. Nor, 
I venture to think, are the results of the modern 
system more successful than those of the old one. 
Charles loved his "kind old schoolmaster," as he 
affectionately calls him, and surely to gain the 
love of the boys is the main battle in school- 
management. 

The impression he made upon his instructors 
may be gathered from the following extracts from 
Mr. Tate's first report upon him : — 

Sufficient opportunities having been allowed me to draw 
from actual observation an estimate of your son's character 



LEWIS CARROLL 25 

and abilities, I do not hesitate to express my opinion that he 
possesses, along with other and excellent natural endowments, 
a very uncommon share of genius. Gentle and cheerful in his 
intercourse with others, playful and ready in conversation, he 
is capable of acquirements and knowledge far beyond his 
years, while his reason is so clear and so jealous of error, that 
he will not rest satisfied without a most exact solution of what- 
ever appears to him obscure. He has passed an excellent 
examination just now in mathematics, exhibiting at times an 
illustration of that love of precise argument, which seems to 
him natural. 

I must not omit to set off against these great advantages 
one or two faults, of which the removal as soon as possible 
is desirable, tho' I am prepared to find it a work of time. 
As you are well aware, our young friend, while jealous of 
error, as I said above, where important faith or principles are 
concerned, is exceedingly lenient towards lesser frailties — and, 
whether in reading aloud or metrical composition, frequently 
sets at nought the notions of Virgil or Ovid as to syllabic 
quantity. He is moreover marvellously ingenious in replacing 
the ordinary inflexions of nouns and verbs, as detailed in our 
grammars, by more exact analogies, or convenient forms of his 
own devising. This source of fault will in due time exhaust 
itself, though flowing freely at present. . . . You may fairly 
anticipate for him a bright career. Allow me, before I close, 
one suggestion which assumes for itself the wisdom of experi- 
ence and the sincerity of the best intention. You must not 
entrust your son with a full knowledge of his superiority over 
other boys. Let him discover this as he proceeds. The love 
of excellence is far beyond the love of excelling ; and if he 
should once be bewitched into a mere ambition to surpass 
others I need not urge that the very quality of his knowledge 
would be materially injured, and that his character would 
receive a stain of a more serious description still. . . . 



26 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

And aorain, when Charles was leaving- Rich- 
mond, he wrote : " Be assured that I shall always 
feel a peculiar interest in the gentle, intelligent, 
and well-conducted boy who is now leaving us. " 

Although his father had been a Westminster 
boy, Charles was, for some reason or other, sent 
to Rugby. The great Arnold, who had, one 
might almost say, created Rugby School, and 
who certainly had done more for it than all his 
predecessors put together, had gone to his rest, 
and for four years the reins of government had 
been in the firm hands of Dr. Tait, afterwards 
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was Head- 
master during the whole of the time Charles was 
at Rugby, except the last year, during which 
Dr. Goulburn held that office. Charles went up 
in February, 1846, and he must have found his 
new life a great change from his quiet experiences 
at Richmond. Football was in full swing, and 
one can imagine that to a new boy " Big-side " 
was not an unalloyed delight. Whether he dis- 
tinguished himself as a " dropper," or ever beat 
the record time in the " Crick " run, I do not 
know. Probably not ; his abilities did not lie much 
in the field of athletics. But he got on capitally 
with his work, and seldom returned home without 




ARCHBISHOP TAIT. 
{From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott and Fry ) 



28 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

one or more prizes. Moreover, he conducted 
himself so well that he never had to enter that 
dreaded chamber, well known to some Ruofbeians, 
which is approached by a staircase that winds up 
a little turret, and wherein are enacted scenes 
better imagined than described. 

A schoolboy's letter home is not, usually, 
remarkable for the intelligence displayed in it ; 
as a rule it merely leads up with more or less 
ingenuity to the inevitable request for money 
contained in the postscript. Some of Charles's 
letters were of a different sort, as the following 
example shows :— 

Yesterday evening I was walking out with a friend of mine 
who attends as mathematical pupil Mr. Smythies the second 
mathematical master ; we went up to Mr. Smythies' house, as 
he wanted to speak to him, and he asked us to stop and have 
a glass of wine and some figs. He seems as devoted to his 
duty as Mr. Mayor, and asked me with a smile of deUght, 
" Well Dodgson I suppose you're getting well on with your 
mathematics ? " He is very clever at them, though not equal 
to Mr. Mayor, as indeed few men are, Papa excepted. . . . 
I have read the first number of Dickens' new tale, " Davy 
Copperfield." It purports to be his life, and begins with his 
birth and childhood ; it seems a poor plot, but some of the 
characters and scenes are good. One of the persons that 
amused me was a Mrs. Gummidge, a wretched melancholy 
person, who is always crying, happen what will, and whenever 
the fire smokes, or other trifling accident occurs, makes the 
remark with great bitterness, and many tears, that she is a 



LEWIS CARROLL 



29 



"lone lorn creetur, and everything goes contrairy with her." 
I have not yet been able to get the second volume Macau- 
lay's " England " to read. I have seen it however and one 
passage struck me when seven bishops had signed the invita- 
tion to the pretender, and King James sent for Bishop 
Compton (who was one of the seven) and asked him "whether 
he or any of his ecclesiastical brethren had anything to do 
with it ? " He replied, after a moment's thought " I am fully 
persuaded your majesty, that there is not one of my brethren 
who is not as innocent in the matter as myself." This was 
certainly no actual lie, but certainly, as Macaulay says, it was 
very little different from one. 

The Mr. Mayor who is mentioned in this letter 
formed a very high opinion of his pupil's ability, 
for in 1848 he wrote to Archdeacon Dodgson : 
" I have not had a more promising boy at his 
age since I came to Rugby." 

Dr. Tait speaks no less warmly : — 

My dear Sir, — I must not allow your son to leave school 
without expressing to you the very high opinion I entertain of 
him. I fully coincide in Mr. Cotton's estimate both of his 
abilities and upright conduct. His mathematical knowledge 
is great for his age, and I doubt not he will do himself credit 
in classics. As I believe I mentioned to you before, his 
examination for the Divinity prize was one of the most credit- 
able exhibitions I have ever seen. 

During the whole time of his being in my house, his conduct 
has been excellent. 

Believe me to be, My dear Sir, 

Yours very faithfully, 

A. C. Tait. 



30 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Public school life then was not what it is now ; 
the atrocious system then in vogue of setting 
hundreds of lines for the most trifling offences 
made every day a weariness and a hopeless waste 
of time, while the bad discipline which was main- 
tained in the dormitories made even the niofhts 
intolerable — especially for the small boys, whose 
beds in winter were denuded of blankets that the 
bigger ones might not feel cold. 

Charles kept no diary during his time at 
Rugby ; but, looking back upon it, he writes in 

1855 :- 

During my stay I made I suppose some progress in learning 
of various kinds, but none of it was done con aniore, and I 
spent an incalculable time in writing out impositions — this last 
I consider one of the chief faults of Rugby School. I made 
some friends there, the most intimate being Henry Leigh 
Bennett (as college acquaintances we find fewer common 
sympathies, and are consequently less intimate) — but I cannot 
say that I look back upon my life at a Public School with any 
sensations of pleasure, or that any earthly considerations would 
induce me to go through my three years again. 

When, some years afterwards, he visited Radley 
School, he was much struck by the cubicle system 
which prevails in the dormitories there, and wrote 
in his Diary, " I can say that if I had been thus 
secure from annoyance at night, the hardships of 



LEWIS CARROLL 



31 



the daily life would have been comparative trifles 
to bear." 

The picture on page 32 was, I believe, drawn 
by Charles while he was at Rugby in illus- 
tration of a letter received from one of his sisters. 
Halnaby, as I have said before, was an outlying 
district of Croft parish. 

During his holidays he used to amuse himself 
by editing local magazines. Indeed, they might 
be called ve7y local magazines, as their circulation 
was confined to the inmates of Croft Rectory. 
The first of these. Useful and Instructive Poet7y, 
was written about 1845. It came to an untimely 
end after a six months' run, and was followed at 
varying intervals by several other periodicals, 
equally short-lived. 

In 1849 or 1850, The Rectory Umbrella began 
to appear. As the editor was by this time 
seventeen or eighteen years old, it was naturally 
of a more ambitious character than any of its 
precursors. It contained a serial story of the most 
thrilling interest, entitled, " The Walking-Stick of 
Destiny," some meritorious poetry, a few humorous 
essays, and several caricatures of pictures in the 
Vernon Gallery. Three reproductions of these 
pictures follow, with extracts from the Umbrella 
descriptive of them. 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 33 

THE VERNON GALLERY. 

As our readers will have seen by the preceding page, we 
have commenced engraving the above series of pictures. " The 
Age of Innocence," by Sir J. Reynolds, representing a young 
Hippopotamus seated under a shady tree, presents to the con- 
templative mind a charming union of youth and innocence. 

Editor. 




Nayjvvuio. A*ivm» 



WpeilT, t^'AJWVtil. 



" The Scanty Meal." 

We have been unusually ^ successful in our second engraving 
from the Vernon Gallery. The picture is intended, as our 

' Perhaps an incorrect expression, as it was only the second attempt. 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 35 

readers will perceive, to illustrate the evils of homoeopathy.^ 
This idea is well carried out through the whole picture. The 
thin old lady at the head of the table is in the painter's best 
style ; we almost fancy we can trace in the eye of the other 
lady a lurking suspicion that her glasses are not really in fault, 
and that the old gentleman has helped her to nothing instead 
of a nonillionth.^ Her companion has evidently got an empty 
glass in his hand ; the two children in front are admirably 
managed, and there is a sly smile on the footman's face, as if 
he thoroughly enjoyed either the bad news he is bringing or 
the wrath of his mistress. The carpet is executed with that 
elaborate care for which Mr. Herring is so famed, and the 
picture on the whole is one of his best. 

" The First Ear-ring." 

The scene from which this excellent picture is painted is 
taken from a passage in the autobiography 3 of the celebrated 
Sir William Smith ■* of his life when a schoolboy : we tran- 
scribe the passage : " One day Bill Tomkins s and I were left 
alone in the house, the old doctor being out ; after playing 
a number of pranks Bill laid me a bet of sixpence that I 
wouldn't pour a bottle of ink over the doctor's cat. / did 
it, but at that moment old Muggles came home, and caught 
me by the ear as I attempted to run away. My sensations 
at the moment I shall never forget ; on that occasion I received 
my first ear-ring.^ The only remark Bill made to me, as he 

' The science of taking medicine in infinitely small doses. 
^ I 

I OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCXJOOO 

3 A Man's history of his own life. 
•* The author of "The Bandy-legged Butterfly." 

5 Afterwards President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals. 

^ Or a pulling by the ear. 



36 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



paid me the money afterwards was, ' I say, didn't you just 
howl joliy ! ' " The engraving is an excellent copy of the 
picture. 

The best thing in the Rectory Umbrella was a 




TME rlRST EARHIJVG 



bAtxrvACM . CWQSvtV, 



parody on Lord Macaulay 's style in the "■ Lays of 
Ancient Rome " ; Charles had a special aptitude 
for parody, as is evidenced by several of the 
best-known verses in his later books. 





L£TT7S CARROLL 37 

LAYS OF SORROW. 

No. 2. 

Fair stands the ancient ' Rectory, 

The Rectory of Croft, 
The sun shines bright upon it, 

The breezes whisper soft. 
From all the house and garden 

Its inhabitants come forth, 



And muster in the road without, 
And pace in twos and threes about, 
The children of the North. 

Some are waiting in the garden, 

Some are waiting at the door, 
And some are following behind, 

And some have gone before. 
But wherefore all this mustering ? 

Wherefore this vast array ? 
A gallant feat of horsemanship 

Will be performed to-day. 

To eastward and to westward, 

The crowd divides amain, 
Two youths are leading on the steed. 

Both tugging at the rein ; 

' This Rectory has been supposed to have 
been built in the time of Edward VI., but 
recent discoveries clearly assign its origin to 
a much earlier period. A stone has been 
found in an island formed by the river Tees 
on which is inscribed the letter "A," which 
is justly conjectured to stand for the name of 
the great King Alfred, in whose reign this 
house was probably built. 




38 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 




And sorely do they labour, 

For the steed ' is very strong, 
And backward moves its stubborn feet. 
And backward ever doth retreat. 

And drags its guides along. 

And now the knight hath mounted, 

Before the admiring band, 
Hath got the stirrups on his feet. 

The bridle in his hand. 
Yet, oh ! beware, sir horseman ! 

And tempt thy fate no more. 
For such a steed as thou hast got, 

Was never rid before ! 

The rabbits ^ bow before thee, 
And cower in the straw ; 
The chickens s are submissive, 
And owai thy will for law ; 
Bullfinches and canary 

Thy bidding do obey ; ' 

And e'en the tortoise in its shell 
Doth never say thee nay. 

But thy steed will hear no master. 

Thy steed will bear no stick. 
And woe to those that beat her, 

And woe to those that kick ! 4 

^ The poet entreats pardon for having represented a donkey under this 
dignified name. 

- With reference to these remarkable animals see " Moans from the 
Miserable," page 12. 

3 A full account of the history and misfortunes of these interesting 
creatures may be found in the first " Lay of Sorrow," page 36. 

■♦ It is a singular fact that a donkey makes a point of returning any kicks 
offered to it. 




LEWIS CARROLL 



39 





For though her rider smite her, 

As hard as he can hit, 
And strive to turn her from the yard. 
She stands in silence, pulling hard 

Against the pulling bit. 

And now the road to Dalton 
Hath felt their coming tread. 

The crowd are speed- 
ing on before, 
And all have gone 
ahead. 
Yet often look they 
backward, 
And cheer him on, and bawl, 
F'or slower still, and still more slow, 
That horseman and that charger go, 
And scarce advance at all. 

. . And now two roads to choose from 

/^p I Are in that rider's sight : 
In front the road to Dalton, 
And New Croft upon the right. 
"I can't get by! " he bellows, - ^ 

" I really am not able ! &>-''^ J 

Though I pull my shoulder out of ' ^ " -^ 

joint, 
I cannot get him past this point, 
For it leads unto his stable ! " 

Then out spake Ulfrid Longbow,' 

A valiant youth was he, 
" Lo ! I will stand on thy right hand 

And guard the pass for thee ! " 

' This valiant knight, besides having a heart of steel and nerves of iron, 
has been lately in the habit of carrying a brick in his eye. 




40 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



And out spake fair Flureeza/ 
His sister eke was she, 

" I will abide on thy other side, 
And turn thy steed for thee ! " 






And now commenced a struggle 
Between that steed and rider, 

For all the strength that he hath 
left 
Doth not suffice to guide her. 
Though Ulfrid and his sister 

Have kindly stopped the way. 
And all the crowd have cried 
aloud, 
" We can't wait here all day ! " 

Round turned he as not deigning 
Their words to understand. 



' She was sister to both. 



LEWIS CARROLL 



41 



But he slipped the stirrups from his feet 

The bridle from his hand, 
And grasped the mane full lightly, 

And vaulted from his seat, 
And gained the road in triumph,^ 

And stood upon his feet. 





All firmly till that moment 

Had Ulfrid Longbow stood, 
And faced the foe right valiantly. 

As every warrior should. 
But when safe on terra firma 

His brother he did spy, 
" What ilid you do that for ? " he cried, 
Then unconcerned he stepped aside 

And let it canter by. 

They gave him bread and butter,^ 
That was of public right, 

The reader will probably be at a loss to discover the nature of this 

triumph, as no object was gained, and the donkey was obviously the victor ; 

on this point, however, we are sorry to say, we can offer no good explanation. 

- Much more acceptable to a true knight than "corn-land" which the 

Roman people were so foolish as to give to their daring champion, Horatius. 



42 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 




As much as four strong rabbits, 
Could munch from morn to night, 

For he'd done a deed of daring, 
And faced that savage steed, 

And therefore cups of coffee sweet, 

And everything that was a treat. 
Were but his right and meed. 




And often in the evenings. 

When the fire is blazing bright. 
When books bestrew the table 

And moths obscure the light, 
When crying children go to bed, 

A struggling, kicking load ; 
We'll talk of Ulfrid Longbow's deed, 
How, in his brother's utmost need. 
Back to his aid he flew with speed, 
And how he faced the fiery steed, 

And kept the New Croft Road. 



CHAPTER II 

(1850-1S60.) 

Matriculation at Christ Church — Death of Mrs. Dodgson — The 
Great Exhibition — University and College Honours — A 
wonderful year — A theatrical treat — Misch-Masch — The 
Train — College Rhymes — His nom deplume — "Dotheboys 
Hall " — Alfred Tennyson — Ordination — Sermons — A visit 
to Farringford — "Where does the day begin?" — The 
Queen visits Oxford. 



w 



E have traced in the boyhood of Lewis 
Carroll the beginnings of those char- 
acteristic traits which afterwards, more 
fully developed, gave him so distinguished a 
position among his contemporaries. We now 
come to a period of his life which is in some 
respects necessarily less Interesting. We all have 
to pass through that painful era of self-con- 
sciousness which prefaces manhood, that time 
when we feel so deeply, and are so utterly unable 
to express to others, or even to define clearly to 
ourselves, what it is we do feel. The natural 



46 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

freedom of childhood Is dead within us ; the con- 
ventional freedom of riper years is struggling to 
birth, and its efforts are sometimes ludicrous to 
an unsympathetic observer. In Lewis Carroll's 
mental attitude during this critical period there 
was always a calm dignity which saved him from 
these absurdities, an undercurrent of consciousness 
that what seemed so great to him was really very 
litde. 

On May 23, 1850, he matriculated at Christ 
Church, the venerable college which had num- 
bered his father's among other illustrious names. 
A letter from Dr. Jelf, one of the canons of Christ 
Church, to Archdeacon Dodgson, written when 
the former heard that his old friend's son was 
coming up to " the House," contains the following 
words : "I am sure I express the common feeling 
of all who remember you at Christ Church when 
I say that we shall rejoice to see a son of yours 
worthy to tread in your footsteps," 

Lewis Carroll came into residence on January 
24, 1 85 1. From that day to the hour of his 
death — a period of forty-seven years— he belonged 
to "the House," never leaving it for any length 
of time, becoming almost a part of it. I, for one, 
can hardly imagine it without him. 



LEWIS CARROLL 47 

Though technically " in residence," he had not 
rooms of his own in Colleore duringr his first term. 
The " House " was very full ; and had it not been 
for one of the tutors, the Rev. J. Lew, kindly 
lending him one of his own rooms, he would have 
had to take lodgings in the town. The first set 
of rooms he occupied was in Peckwater Quad- 
rangle, which is annually the scene of a great 
bonfire on Guy Fawkes' Day, and, generally 
speaking, is not the best place for a reading man 
to live in. 

In those days the undergraduates dining in 
hall were divided into "messes." Each mess 
consisted of about half a dozen men, who had a 
table to themselves. Dinner was served at five, 
and very indifferently served, too ; the dishes 
and plates were of pewter, and the joint was 
passed round, each man cutting off what he 
wanted for himself In Mr. Dodgson's mess 
were Philip Pusey, the late Rev. G, C. Wood- 
house, and, among others, one who still lives in 
"Alice in Wonderland" as the " Hatter." 

Only a few days after term began, Mrs. Dodg- 
son died suddenly at Croft. The shock was a 
terrible one to the whole family, and especially to 
her devoted husband. I have come across a 



48 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



delightful and most characteristic letter from Dr. 
Pusey — a letter full of the kindest and truest 
sympathy with the Archdeacon in his bereave- 
ment. The part of it which bears upon Mrs. 
Dodgson's death I give in full : — 




GRAVE OF ARCHDEACON AND MRS. DODGSON IN CROFT CHURCHYARD. 



My dear Friend, — I hear and see so little and so few 
persons, that I had not heard of your sorrow until your to- 
day's letter ; and now I but guess what it was ; only your 
language is that of the very deepest. I have often thought, 
since I had to think of this, how, in all adversity, what God 
takes away He may give us back with increase. One cannot 
think that any holy earthly love will cease, when we shall "be 



LEWIS CARROLL 49 

like the Angels of God in Heaven." Love here must shadow 
our love there, deeper because spiritual, without any alloy 
from our sinful nature, and in the fulness of the love of God. 
But as we grow here by God's grace will be our capacity for 
endless love. So, then, if by our very sufferings we are puri- 
fied, and our hearts enlarged, we shall, in that endless bliss, 
love more those whom we loved here, than if we had never 
had that sorrow, never been parted. . . . 

Lewis Carroll was summoned home to attend 
the funeral — a sad interlude amidst the novel 
experiences of a first term at College. The 
Oxford of 1 85 1 was in manv ways quite unlike 
the Oxford of 1898. The position of the under- 
graduates was much more similar to that of 
schoolboys than is now the case ; they were sub- 
ject to the same penalties — corporal punishment, 
even, had only just gone out of vogue ! — and 
were expected to work, and to work hard. 

Early rising then was strictly enforced, as the 
following extract from one of his letters will 
show : — 

I am not so anxious as usual to begin my personal history, 
as the first thing I have to record is a very sad incident, 
namely, my missing morning chapel ; before, however, you 
condemn me, you must hear how accidental it was. For some 
days now I have been in the habit of, I will not say getting 
up, but of being called at a quarter past six, and generally 
managing to be down soon after seven. In the present instance 




LEWIS CARROLL, AGED 23. 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 51 

I had been up the night before till about half-past twelve, and 
consequently when I was called I fell asleep again, and was 
thunderstruck to find on waking that it was ten minutes past 
eight. I have had no imposition, nor heard anything about it. 
It is rather vexatious to have happened so soon, as I had 
intended never to be late. 

It was therefore obviously his custom to have 
his breakfast before going to chapel. I wonder 
how many undergraduates of the present genera- 
tion follow the same hardy rule ! But then no 
" impositions " threaten the modern sluggard, 
even if he neglects chapel altogether, 

Durinof the Lonof Vacation he visited the Great 
Exhibition, and wrote his sister Elizabeth a long 
account of what he had seen : — 

I think the first impression produced on you when you get 
inside is one of bewilderment. It looks like a sort of fairy- 
land. As far as you can look in any direction, you see 
nothing but pillars hung about with shawls, carpets, &c., with 
long avenues of statues, fountains, canopies, etc., etc., etc. 
The first thing to be seen on entering is the Crystal Fountain, 
a most elegant one about thirty feet high at a rough guess, 
composed entirely of glass and pouring down jets of water 
from basin to basin ; this is in the middle of the centre nave, 
and from it you can look down to either end, and up both 
transepts. The centre of the nave mostly consists of a long 
line of colossal statues, some most magnificent. The one 
considered the finest, I believe, is the Amazon and Tiger. 
She is sitting on horseback, and a tiger has fastened on the 
neck of the horse in front. You have to go to one side to 



52 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

see her face, and the other to see the horse's. The horse's 
face is really wonderful, expressing terror and pain so exactly, 
that you almost expect to hear it scream. . . . There are some 
very ingenious pieces of mechanism. A tree (in the French 
Compartment) with birds chirping and hopping from branch to 
branch exactly like life. The bird jumps across, turns round on 
the other branch, so as to face back again, settles its head and 
neck, and then in a few moments jumps back again. A bird 
standing at the foot of the tree trying to eat a beetle is rather 
a failure ; it never succeeds in getting its head more than 
a quarter of an inch down, and that in uncomfortable little 
jerks, as if it was choking. I have to go to the Royal 
Academy, so must stop : as the subject is quite inexhaustible, 
there is no hope of ever coming to a regular finish. 

On November ist he won a Boulter scholar- 
ship, and at the end of the following year obtained 
First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Second 
in Classical Moderations. On Christmas Eve he 
was made a Student on Dr. Pusey's nomination, 
for at that time the Dean and Canons nominated 
to Studentships by turn. The only conditions on 
which these old Studentships were held were that 
the Student should remain unmarried, and should 
proceed to Holy Orders. No statute precisely 
defined what work was expected of them, that 
question being" largely left to their own discretion. 

The eio-ht Students at the bottom of the list — 
that is to say, the eight who had been nominated 
last — had to mark, by pricking on weekly papers 



LEWIS CARROLL 



53 



called " the Bills," the attendance at morning and 
evening chapel. They were allowed to arrange 
this duty among themselves, and, if it was 
neglected, they were all punished. This long- 
defunct custom explains an entry in Lewis Carroll's 
Diary for October 15, 1853, "Found I had got 
the prickbills two hundred lines apiece, by not 
pricking in in the morning," which, I must confess, 
mystified me exceedingly at first. Another refer- 
ence to College impositions occurs further on in 
his Diary, at a time when he was a Lecturer : 

" Spoke to the Dean about F , who has 

brought an imposition which his tutor declares is 
not his own writing, after being expressly told to 
write it himself." 

The following is an extract from his father's 
letter of congratulation, on his being nominated 
for the Studentship : — 

My dearest Charles, — The feelings of thankfulness and 
delight with which I have read your letter just received, I must 
leave to your conception ; for they are, I assure you, beyond 
my expression ; and your affectionate heart will derive no small 
addition of joy from thinking of the joy which you have 
occasioned to me, and to all the circle of your home. I say 
" von have occasioned," because, grateful as I am to my old 
friend Dr. Pusey for what he has done, I cannot desire 
stronger evidence than his own words of the fact that you have 
won, and well won, this honour for yourself, and that it is 




ARCHDEACON DODGSON. 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 55 

bestowed as a matter of justice to you, and not of kinduess to 
uic. You will be interested in reading extracts from his two 
letters to me — the first written three years ago in answer to 
one from me, in which I distinctly told him that I neither 
asked nor expected that he should serve me in this matter, 
unless my son should fairly reach the standard of merit by 
which these appointments were regulated. In reply he says — 

" I thank you for the way in which you put the application 
to me. I have now, for nearly twenty years, not given a 
Studentship to any friend of my own, unless there was no very 
eligible person in the College. I have passed by or declined 
the sons of those to whom I was personally indebted for 
kindness. I can only say that I shall have very great pleasure, 
if circumstances permit me to nominate your son." 

In his letter received this morning he says — 

" I have great pleasure in telling you that I have been 
enabled to recommend your son for a Studentship this 
Christmas. It must be so much more satisfactory to you 
that he should be nominated thus, in consequence of the 
recommendation of the College. One of the Censors brought 
me to-day five names ; but in their minds it was plain that 
they thought your son on the whole the most eligible for the 
College. It has been very satisfactory to hear of your son's 
uniform steady and good conduct." 

The last clause is a parallel to your own report, and I 
am glad that you should have had so soon an evidence so 
substantial of the truth of what I have so often inculcated, 
that it is the " steady, painstaking, likely-to-do-good " man, 
who in the long run wins the race against those who now 
and then give a brilliant flash and, as Shakespeare says, 
" straight are cold again." 

In 1853 Archdeacon Dodgson was collated 
and installed as one of the Canons of Ripon 



56 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Cathedral. This appointment necessitated a 
residence of three months in every year at Ripon, 
where Dr. Erskine was then Dean. A certain 
Miss Anderson, who used to stay at the Deanery, 
had very remarkable " clairvoyant " powers ; she 
was able — it was averred — by merely holding in 
her hand a folded paper containing some words 
written by a person unknown to her, to describe 
his or her character. In this way, at what precise 
date is uncertain, she dictated the following 
description of Lewis Carroll : " Very clever head ; 
a great deal of number ; a great deal of imitation ; 
he would make a good actor ; diffident ; rather 
shy in general society ; comes out in the home 
circle ; rather obstinate ; very clever ; a great 
deal of concentration ; very affectionate ; a great 
deal of wit and humour ; not much eventuality 
(or memory of events) ; fond of deep reading ; 
imaginative, fond of reading poetry ; may com- 
pose." Those who knew him well will agree 
that this was, at any rate, a remarkable coinci- 
dence. 

Longley, afterwards Primate, was then Bishop 
of Ripon. His charming character endeared him 
to the Archdeacon and his family, as to every one 
else who saw much of him. He was one of the 



LEWIS CARROLL 



57 



few men whose faces can truly be called beautiful; 
it was a veil through which a soul, all orentleness 
and truth, shone brightly. 

In the early part of 1854 Mr. Dodgson was 
reading hard for "Greats." For the last three 
weeks before the examination he worked thirteen 
hours a day, spending the 
whole night before the 
viva voce over his books. 
But philosophy and his- 
tory were not very con- 
genial subjects to him, 
and when the list was 
published his name was 
only in the third class. 

He spent the Long 
Vacation at Whitby, read- 
ing Mathematics with 
Professor Price. His work 
bore orood fruit, for in October he obtained First 
Class Honours in the Final Mathematical School. 
" I am getting quite tired of being congratulated 
on various subjects," he writes ; " there seems to 
be no end of it. If I had shot the Dean I could 
hardly have had more said about it." 

In another letter dated December 13th, he says: 




ARCHBISHOP LONGLEY. 



.58 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Enclosed you will find a list which I expect you to rejoice 
over considerably; it will take me more than a day to 
believe it, I expect — I feel at present very like a child with 
a new toy, but I daresay I shall be tired of it soon, and 
wish to be Pope of Rome next. ... I have just been to 
Mr. Price to see how I did in the papers, and the 
result will I hope be gratifying to you. The following were 
the sums total for each in the First Class, as nearly as I 
can remember : — 

Dodgson ... ... ... 279 



Bosanquet 
Cookson 
Fowler 
Ranken 



261 

254 
225 



21 



o 



He also said he never remembered so good a set of men 
in. All this is very satisfactory. I must also add (this is 
a very boastful letter) that I ought to get the senior scholar- 
ship next term. . . . One thing more I will add, to crown 
all, and that is, I find I am the next First Class Mathe- 
matical Student to Faussett (with the exception of Kitchin 
who has given up Mathematics), so that I stand next (as 
Bosanquet is going to leave) for the Lectureship. 

On December i8th he took the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, and on October 15, 1855, 
he was made a " Master of the House," in 
honour of the appointment of the new Dean 
(Dr. Liddell) who succeeded Dean Gaisford. 
To be made Master of the House means that 
a man has all the privileges of a Master of 
Arts within the walls of Christ Church. But 
he must be of a certain number of terms' 



LEWIS CARROLL 59 

standing, and be admitted in due form by the 
Vice-Chancellor, before he is a Master of Arts 
of the University. In this wider sense Mr. 
Dodgson did not take his Master's degree until 

1857- 

This is anticipating events, and there is much 
to tell of the year 1855, which was a very event- 
ful one for him. On February 15th he was made 
Sub-Librarian. "This will add ^35 to my 
income," he writes, " not much towards inde- 
pendence." For he was most anxious to have a 
sufficient income to make him his own master, 
that he might enter on the literary and artistic 
career of which he was already dreaming. On 
May 14th he wrote in his Diary : " The Dean 
and Canons have been pleased to give me one of 
the Bostock scholarships, said to be worth ^20 a 
year — this very nearly raises my Income this year 
to independence. Courage ! " 

His college work, during 1855, was chiefly 
taking private pupils, but he had, in addition, 
about three and a half hours a day of lecturing 
during the last term of the year. He did not, 
however, work as one of the regular staff of 
lecturers until the next year. From that date 
his work rapidly increased, and he soon had to 



6o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

devote regularly as much as seven hours a day to 
delivering- lectures, to say nothing of the time 
required for preparing them. 

The following extract from his Journal, June 
2 2, 1855, will serve to show his early love for the 
drama. The scene is laid at the Princess' 
Theatre, then at the height of its glory: — 

The evening began with a capital farce, " Away with Melan- 
choly," and then came the great play, " Henry VIIL," the 
greatest theatrical treat I ever had or ever expect to have. I 
had no idea that anything so superb as the scenery and dresses 
was ever to be seen on the stage. Kean was magnificent as 
Cardinal Wolsey, Mrs. Kean a worthy successor to Mrs. Sid- 
dons as Queen Catherine, and all the accessories without 
exception were good — but oh, that exquisite vision of Queen 
Catherine's ! I almost held my breath to watch : the illusion 
is perfect, and I felt as if in a dream all the time it lasted. It 
was like a delicious reverie, or the most beautiful poetry. 
This is the true end and object of acting — to raise the mind 
above itself, and out of its petty cares. Never shall I forget 
that wonderful evening, that exquisite vision — sunbeams broke 
in through the roof, and gradually revealed two angel forms, 
floating in front of the carved work on the ceiling : the column 
of sunbeams shone down upon the sleeping queen, and gra- 
dually down it floated, a troop of angelic forms, transparent, and 
carrying palm branches in their hands : they waved these over 
the sleeping queen, with oh ! such a sad and solemn grace. So 
could I fancy (if the thought be not profane) would real angels 
seem to our mortal vision, though doubtless our conception is 
poor and mean to the reality. She in an ecstasy raises her 
arms towards them, and to sweet slow music, they vanish as 



LEWIS CARROLL 6i 

marvellously as they came. Then the profound silence of the 
audience burst at once into a rapture of applause ; but even 
that scarcely marred the effect of the beautiful sad waking 
words of the Queen, " Spirits of peace, where are ye ? " I 
never enjoyed anything so much in my life before ; and never 
felt so inclined to shed tears at anything fictitious, save perhaps 
at that poetical gem of Dickens, the death of little Paul. 

On August 2 I St he received a long letter from 
his father, full of excellent advice on the impor- 
tance to a young man of saving money : — 

I will just sketch for you [writes the Archdeacon] a supposed 
case, applicable to your own circumstances, of a young man 
of twenty-three, making up his mind to work for ten years, 
and living to do it, on an Income enabling him to save ;^i5o 
a year — supposing him to appropriate it thus : — 



Invested at 4 per cent. 
Life Insurance of ^1,500 
Books, besides those bought in or- 
dinary course ... 

Suppose him at the end of the ten years to get a Living 
enabling him to settle, what will be the result of his savings : — 

1. A nest egg of ^1,220 ready money, for furnishing and 
other expenses. 

2. A sum of ;j^i,5oo secured at his death on payment of a 
very mndi smaller annual Premium than if he had then begun 
to insure it. 

3. A useful Library, worth more than ^200, besides the books 
bought out of his current Income during the period. . . . 



£ 


s. 


d. 


100 








29 


15 





20 


5 






62 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The picture on the opposite page is one of Mr. 
Dodgson's illustrations in Misch-Masch, a period- 
ical of the nature of The Rectory Umbrella, 
except that it contained printed stories and 
poems by the editor, cut out of the various news- 
papers to which he had contributed them. Of 
the comic papers of that day Punch, of course, 
held the foremost place, but it was not with- 
out rivals ; there was a certain paper called 
Diogenes, then very near its end, which imitated 
PtmcKs style, and In 1853 the proprietor of The 
Illustrated News, at that time one of the most 
opulent publishers in London, started The Comic 
Times. A capable editor was found in Edmund 
Yates ; " Phiz " and other well-known artists and 
writers joined the staff, and 100,000 copies of the 
first number were printed. 

Among the contributors was Frank Smedley, 
author of " Frank Fairleio^h." Thougfh a con- 
firmed invalid, and condemned to spend most of 
his days on a sofa, Mr. Smedley managed to 
write several fine novels, full of the joy of life, 
and free from the least taint of discontent or 
morbid feeling. He was one of those men — 
one meets them here and there — whose minds 
rise high above their bodily infirmities ; at 



LEWIS CARROLL 



63 



moments of depression, which come to them as 
frequently, if not more frequently, than to other 
men, they no doubt feel their weakness, and think 
themselves despised, little knowing that we, the 
stronger ones in body, feel nothing but admira- 

STUDrES TKOM ENGEJSK POETS. W JT 




Alzs ! ivJiat Booia " 



tion as we watch the splendid victory of the soul 
over its earthly companion which their lives 
display 

It was through Frank Smedley that Mr. 
Dodo"son became one of the contributors to T/ie 

o 

Comic Times. Several of his poems appeared 



64 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

in it, and Mr. Yates wrote to him in the kindest 
manner, expressing warm approval of them. 
When TAe Comic Times changed hands in 1856, 
and was reduced to half its size, the whole staff 
left it and started a new venture, The Train. 
They were joined by Sala, whose stories in 
Hotisehold IVords were at that time usually 
ascribed by the uninitiated to Charles Dickens. 
Mr. Dodgson's contributions to T/ie Train in- 
cluded the following : " Solitude" (March, 1856) ; 
" Novelty and Romancement " (October, 1856) ; 
"The Three Voices " (November, 1856) ; " The 
Sailor's Wife" (May, 1857); and last, but 
by no means least, " Hiawatha's Photograph- 
ing " (December, 1857). All of these, except 
" Novelty and Romancement," have since been 
republished in "Rhyme? and Reason.'*" and 
" Three Sunsets." 

The last entry in Mr. Dodgson's Diary for this 
year reads as follows : — 

I am sitting alone in my bedroom this last night of the old 
year, waiting for midnight. It has been the most eventful 
year of my life : I began it a poor bachelor student, with no 
definite plans or expectations ; I end it a master and tutor in 
Ch. Ch., with an income of more than ^300 a year, and the 
course of mathematical tuition marked out by God's provi- 
dence for at least some years to come. Great mercies, great 



I£TT75 CARROLL 65 

failings, time lost, talents misapplied — such has been the 
past year. 

His Diary is full of such modest depreciations 
of himself and his work, interspersed with earnest 
prayers (too sacred and private to be reproduced 
here) that God would forgive him the past, and 
help him to perform His holy will in the future. 
And all the time that he was thus speaking of 
himself as a sinner, and a man who was utterly 
falling short of his aim, he was living a life full 
of orood deeds and innumerable charities, a life 
of incessant labour and unremitting fulfilment of 
duty. So, I suppose, it is always with those who 
have a really high ideal ; the harder they try to 
approach it the more it seems to recede from 
them, or rather, perhaps, it is impossible to be 
both ''the subject and spectator" of goodness. 
As Coventry Patmore wrote : — 

Become whatever good you see ; 

Nor sigh if, forthwith, fades from view 
The grace of which you may not be 

The Subject and spectator too. 

The reading of " Alton Locke " turned his 
mind towards social subjects. "If the book 
were but a little more definite," he writes, " it 



66 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

might stir up many fellow-workers in the same 
good field of social improvement. Oh that God, 
in His good providence, may make me hereafter 
such a worker ! But alas, what are the means ? 
Each one has his own nostrMin to propound, and 
in the Babel of voices nothing is done. I would 
thankfully spend and be spent so long as I were 
sure of really effecting something by the sacrifice, 
and not merely lying down under the wheels of 
some irresistible Juggernaut." 

He was for some time the editor of College 
Rhymes, a. Christ Church paper, in which his 
poem, *'A Sea Dirge" (afterwards republished 
in " Phantasmagoria," and again in " Rhyme ? 
and Reason ? "), first appeared. The following 
verses were amongf his contributions to the same 



*& 



I painted her a gushing thing, 

With years perhaps a score 
I little thought to find they were 

At least a dozen more ; 
My fancy gave her eyes of blue, 

A curly auburn head : 
I came to find the blue a green. 

The auburn turned to red. 

She boxed my ears this morning, 
They tingled very much ; 



LEWIS CARROLL 67 

I own that I could wish her 

A somewhat Ughter touch ; 
And if you were to ask me how 

Her charms might be improved, 
I would not have them added to, 

But just a few removed ! 

She has the bear's ethereal grace, 

The bland hyena's laugh, 
The footstep of the elephant, 

The neck of the giraffe ; 
I love her still, believe me, 

Though my heart its passion hides ; 
" She is all my fancy painted her," 

But oh ! how much besides ! 

It was when writing for The Train that he 
first felt the need of a pseudonym. He suggested 
"Dares" (the first syllable of his birthplace) to 
Edmund Yates, but, as this did not meet with his 
editor's approval, he wrote again, giving a choice 
of four names, (i) Edgar Cuthwellis, (2) Edgar 
U. C. Westhall, (3) Louis Carroll, and (4) Lewis 
Carroll. The first two were formed from the 
letters of his two Christian names, Charles Lut- 
widge ; the others are merely variant forms of 
those names — Lewis = Ludovicus = Lutwidge ; 
Carroll = Carolus = Charles. Mr. Yates chose 
the last, and thenceforward it became Mr. 
Dodgson's ordinary nom de plume. The first 



68 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

occasion on which he used it was, I beHeve, 
when he wrote " The Path of Roses," a 
poem which appeared in T/ie Train in May, 
1856. 

On June i6th he again visited the Princess's 
-Theatre. This time the play was " A Winter's 
Tale," and he " especially admired the acting 
of the little Mamillius, Ellen Terry, a beautiful 
little creature, who played with remarkable ease 
and spirit." 

During the Long Vacation he spent a few wrecks 
in the English Lake District. In spite of the 
rain, of which he had his full share, he managed 
to see a good deal of the best scenery, and made 
the ascent of Gable in the face of an icy gale, 
which laid him up with neuralgia for some days. 
He and his companions returned to Croft by way 
of Barnard Castle, as he narrates in his Diary : — 

We set out by coach for Barnard Castle at about seven, 
and passed over about forty miles of the dreariest hill- 
country I ever saw ; the climax of wretchedness was reached 
in Bowes, where yet stands the original of " Dotheboys Hall " ; 
it has long ceased to be used as a school, and is falling 
into ruin, in which the whole place seems to be following its 
example — the roofs are falling in, and the windows broken or 
barricaded — the whole town looks plague-stricken. The 
courtyard of the inn we stopped at was grown over with 
weeds, and a mouthing idiot lolled against the corner of the 



LEWIS CARROLL 69 

house, like the evil genius of the spot. Next to a prison or a 
lunatic asylum, preserve me from living at Bowes ! 

Although he was anything but a sportsman, he 
was interested in the subject of betting, from a 
mathematical standpoint solely, and in 1857 he 
sent a letter to Bell's Life, explaining a method 
by which a betting man might ensure winning 
over any race. The system was either to back 
every horse, or to lay against every horse, 
according to the way the odds added up. He 
showed his scheme to a sporting friend, who 
remarked, " An excellent system, and you're 
bound to win — if only you can get people to take 
your bets.'' 

In the same year he made the acquaintance 
of Tennyson, whose writings he had long in- 
tensely admired. He thus describes the poet's 
appearance : — 

A strange shaggy-looking man ; his hair, moustache, and 
beard looked wild and neglected ; these very much hid the 
character of the face. He was dressed in a loosely fitting 
morning coat, common grey flannel waistcoat and trousers, 
and a carelessly tied black silk neckerchief. His hair is black ; 
I think the eyes too ; they are keen and restless — nose aqui- 
line — forehead high and broad — both face and head are fine 
and manly. His manner was kind and friendly from the 
first ; there is a dry lurking humour in his style of talking. 




ALFRED TENNYSON. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 71 

I took the opportunity [he goes on to say] of asking the 
meaning of two passages in his poems, which have ahvays 
puzzled me : one in " Maud " — 

Strange that I hear two men 

Somewhere talking of me ; 
Well, if it prove a girl, my boy 

Will have plenty ; so let it be. 

He said it referred to Maud, and to the two fathers arranging 
a match between himself and her. 
The other was of the poet — 

Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, 
The love of love. 

He said that he was quite willing it should bear any meaning 
the words would fairly bear ; to the best of his recollection 
his meaning when he wrote it was " the hate of the quality 
hate, &:c.," but he thought the meaning of " the quintessence 
of hatred " finer. He said there had never been a poem so 
misunderstood by the "ninnies of critics" as "Maud." 

During an evening spent at Tent Lodge 
Tennyson remarked, on the similarity of the 
monkey's skull to the human, that a young 
monkey's skull is quite human in shape, and 
gradually alters — the analogy being borne out by 
the human skull being at first more like the 
statues of the gods, and gradually degenerating 
into human ; and then, turning to Mrs. Tenny- 
son, " There, that's the second original remark 
I've made this evening!" Mr. Dodgson saw a 



^2 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

great deal of the Tennysons after this, and photo- 
graphed the poet himself and various members 
of his family. 

In October he made the acquaintance of John 
Ruskin, who in after years was always willing 
to assist him with his valuable advice on any 
point of artistic criticism. Mr. Dodgson was 
singularly fortunate in his friends ; whenever he 
was in difficulties on any technical matters, 
whether of religion, law, medicine, art, or what- 
ever it might be, he always had some one 
especially distinguished in that branch of study 
whose aid he could seek as a friend. In par- 
ticular, the names of Canon King (now Bishop of 
Lincoln), and Sir James Paget occur to me ; to 
the latter Mr. Dodgson addressed many letters on 
questions of medicine and surgery — some of them 
intricate enough, but never too intricate to weary 
the unfailing patience of the great surgeon. 

A note in Mr. Dodgson's Journal, May 9, 
1857, describes his introduction to Thackeray : — 

I breakfasted this morning with Fowler of Lincohi to meet 
Thackeray (the author), who delivered his lecture on George 
III. in Oxford last night. I was much pleased with what I 
saw of him ; his manner is simple and unaffected ; he shows 
no anxiety to shine in conversation, though full of fun and 



LEWIS CARROLL 



73 



anecdote when drawn out. He seemed delighted with the 
reception he had met with last night : the undergraduates 
seem to have behaved with most unusual moderation. 

The next few years of his life passed quietly, 
and without any unusual events to break the 




THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 
{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 

monotony of college routine. He spent his 
mornings in the lecture-rooms, his afternoons in 
the country or on the river — he was very fond of 
boatino- — and his evenings in his room, reading;- 
and preparing for the next day's work. But in 



74 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

spite of all this outward calm of life, his mind was 
very much exercised on the subject of taking 
Holy Orders. Not only was this step necessary 
if he wished to retain his Studentship, but also he 
felt that it would give him much more influence 
among the undergraduates, and thus increase his 
power of doing good. On the other hand, he was 
not prepared to live the life of almost puritanical 
strictness which was then considered essential for 
a clergyman, and he saw that the impediment of 
speech from which he suffered would greatly inter- 
fere with the proper performance of his clerical 
duties. 

The Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Wilberforce, had 
expressed the opinion that the "resolution to 
attend theatres or operas was an absolute dis- 
qualification for Holy Orders," which discouraged 
him very much, until it transpired that this state- 
ment was only meant to refer to the parochial 
clergy. He discussed the matter with Dr. Pusey, 
and with Dr. Liddon. The latter said that " he 
thought a deacon might lawfully, if he found him- 
self unfit for the work, abstain from direct minis- 
terial duty." And so, with many qualms about 
his own unworthiness, he at last decided to 
prepare definitely for ordination. 




BISHOP WILBERFORCE. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Ctinoll.) 



76 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

On December 22, 1 861, he was ordained deacon 
by the Bishop of Oxford. He never proceeded 
to priest's orders, partly, I think, because he 
felt that if he were to do so it would be his 
duty to undertake regular parochial work, and 
partly on account of his stammering. He used, 
however, to preach not unfrequently, and his 
sermons were always delightful to listen to, his 
extreme earnestness being evident in every word. 
"He knew exactly what he wished to say " (I 
am quoting from an article in T/ie Guardiaii), 
" and completely forgot his audience in his 
anxiety to explain his point clearly. He thought 
of the subject only, and the words came of them- 
selves. Lookinof straight in front of him he saw, 
as it were, his argument mapped out in the form 
of a diagram, and he set to work to prove it point 
by point, under its separate heads, and then 
summed up the whole." 

One sermon which he preached in the Univer- 
sity Church, on Eternal Punishment, is not likely 
, to be soon forgotten by those who heard it. I, 
unfortunately, was not of that number, but I can 
well imacrine how his clear-cut features would 
light up as he dwelt lovingly upon the mercy of 
that Being whose charity far exceeds "the measure 



LEWIS CARROLL 77 

of man's mind." It is hardly necessary to say 
that he himself did not believe in eternal punish- 
ment, or any other scholastic doctrine that con- 
travenes the love of God. 

He disliked being complimented on his ser- 
mons, but he liked to be told of any good effects 
that his words had had upon any member of the 
congregation. " Thank you for telling me that 
fact about my sermon," he wrote to one of his 
sisters, who told him of some such good fruit 
that one of his addresses had borne. " I have 
once or twice had such information volunteered ; 
and it is a z^^^cii comfort — and a kind of thinsr 
that \s- really good for one to know. It is not 
good to be told (and I never wish to be told), 
'Your sermon was so beautiful' We shall not be 
concerned to know, in the Great Day, whether we 
have preached beautiful sermons, but whether they 
were preached with the one object of serving 
God." 

He was always ready and willing to preach at 
the special service for College servants, which 
used to be held at Christ Church every Sunday- 
evening ; but best of all he loved to preach to 
children. Some of his last sermons were delivered 
at Christ Church, Eastbourne (the church he 



78 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

regularly attended during the Long Vacation), to 
a conorreo:ation of children. On those occasions 
he told them an allegory — Victor and Ainiion, 
which he intended to publish in course of time — 
putting all his heart into the work, and speaking 
with such deep feeling that at times he was almost 
unable to control his emotion as he told them of 
the love and compassion of the Good Shepherd. 

I have dwelt at some length on this side of his 
life, for it is, I am sure, almost ignored in the 
popular estimate of him. He was essentially a 
religious man in the best sense of the term, and 
without any of that morbid sentimentality which 
is too often associated with the word ; and while 
his religion consecrated his talents, and raised 
him to a heiofht which without it he could never 
have reached, the example of such a man as 
he was, so brilliant, so witty, so successful, and 
yet so full of faith, consecrates the very concep- 
tion of religion, and makes it yet more beautiful. 

On April 13, 1859, he paid another visit to 
Tennyson, this time at Farringford. 

1 i After dinner we retired for about an hour to the smoking- 

i room, where I saw the proof-sheets of the " King's Idylls," 

J but he would not let me read them. He walked through 

the garden with me when I left, and made me remark 



LEWIS CARROLL 



79 



an effect produced on the thin white clouds by the moon 
shining through, which I had not noticed — a ring of golden 
light at some distance off the moon, with an interval of white 
between — this, he says, he has alluded to in one of his early 
poems (" Margaret," vol. i.), " the tender amber." I asked his 
opinion of Sydney Dobell — he agrees with me in liking " Grass 
from the Battlefield," and thinks him a writer of genius and 
imagination, but extravagant. 

On another occasion he showed the poet a 
photograph which he had taken of Miss Alice 
Liddell as a beggar-child, and which Tennyson 
said was the most beautiful photograph he had 
ever seen, 

Tennyson told us he had often dreamed long passages of 
poetry, and believed them to be good at the time, though he 
could never remember them after waking, except four lines 
which he dreamed at ten years old : — 

May a cock sparrow 
Write to a barrow? 
I hope you'll excuse 
My infantile muse ; 

— which, as an unpublished fragment of the Poet Laureate, may 
be thought interesting, but not affording much promise of his 
after powers. 

He also told us he once dreamed an enormously long poem 
about fairies, which began with very long lines that gradually 
got shorter, and ended with fifty or sixty lines of two syllables 
each ! 

On October 17, 1859, the Prince of Wales 




ALICE LIDDELL AS BEGGAR-CHILD. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 8i 

came into residence at Christ Church. The 
Dean met him at the station, and all the dons 
assembled in Tom Quadrangle to welcome him. 
Mr. Dodgson, as usual, had an eye to a photo- 
graph, in which hope, however, he was doomed 
to disappointment. His Royal Highness was 
tired of having his picture taken. 

During his early college life he used often to 
spend a few days at Hastings, with his mother's 
sisters, the Misses Lutwidge. In a letter written 
from their house to his sister Mary, and dated 
April II, i860, he gives an account of a lecture 
he had just heard : — 

I am just returned from a series of dissolving views on tlie 
Arctic regions, and, while the information there received is still 
fresh in my mind, I will try to give you some of it. In the 
first place, you may not know that one of the objects of the 
Arctic expeditions was to discover " the intensity of the 
magnetic needle." He [the lecturer] did not tell us, however, 
whether they had succeeded in discovering it, or whether 
that rather obscure question is still doubtful. One of the 
explorers, Baffin, " though he did not suffer all the hardships 
the others did, yet he came to an untimely end (of course 
one would think in the Arctic regions), for instance (what 
follows being, I suppose, one of the untimely ends he came 
to), being engaged in a war of the Portuguese against the 
Prussians, while measuring the ground in front of a fortifica- 
tion, a cannon-ball came against him, with the force with 
which cannon-balls in that day did come, and killed him dead 



82 THE LIFE AND LETTRES OF 

on the spot." How many instances of this kind would you 
demand to prove that he did come to an untimely end ? One 
of the ships was laid up three years in the ice, during which 
time, he told us, " Summer came and went frequently." This, 
I think, was the most remarkable phenomenon he mentioned 
in the whole lecture, and gave me quite a new idea of those 
regions. 



SKETCH FROM ST. LEONARD'S CONCERT-ROOM. 

On Tuesday I went to a concert at St. Leonard's. On the 
front seat sat a youth about twelve years of age, of whom the 
enclosed is a tolerably accurate sketch. He really was, I think, 
the ugliest boy I ever saw. I wish I could get an opportunity 
of photographing him. 

The following note occurs in his Journal for 
May 6th :— 



LEWIS CARROLL 83 

A Christ Church man, named Wilmot, who is just returned 
from the West Indies, dined in Hall. He told us some curious 
things about the insects in South America — one that he had 
himself seen was a spider charming a cockroach with flashes of 
light; they were both on the wall, the spider about a yard 
the highest, and the light was like a glow-worm, only that it 
came by flashes and did not shine continuously ; the cock- 
roach gradually crawled up to it, and allowed itself to be 
taken and killed. 

A few months afterwards, when in town and 
visiting Mr. Munroe's studio, he found there two 
of the children of Mr. George Macdonald, whose 
acquaintance he had already made : " They were 
a girl and boy, about seven and six years old — I 
claimed their acquaintance, and began at once 
proving to the boy, Greville, that he had better 
take the opportunity of having his head changed 
for a marble one. The effect was that in about 
two minutes they had entirely forgotten that I 
was a total stranger, and were earnestly arguing 
the question as if we were old acquaintances." 
Mr. Dodo-son urgfed that a marble head would not 
have to be brushed and combed. At this the boy 
turned to his sister with an air of great relief, 
saying, " Do you hear ^/ia^, Mary ? It needn't be 
combed!" And the narrator adds, "I have no 
doubt combing, with his great head of long hair, 




GEORGE MACDONALD AND HIS DAUGHTER LILY. 

(Fro7i7 a photograph by Lewis Carroll) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 85 

like Hallam Tennyson's, was ^/le misery of his 
life. His final argument was that a marble head 
couldn't speak, and as I couldn't convince either 
that he would be all the better for that, I eave 
in." 

In November he oave a lecture at a meeting" 
of the Ashmolean Society on " Where does the 
Day begin ? " The problem, which was one he 
was very fond of propounding, may be thus 
stated : If a man could travel round the world 
so fast that the sun would be always directly 
above his head, and if he were to start travelling 
at midday on Tuesday, then in twenty-four hours 
he would return to his original point of departure, 
and would find that the day was now called 
Wednesday — at what point of his journey would 
the day change its name ? The difficulty of 
answering this apparently simple question has 
cast a gloom over many a pleasant party. 

On December 12th he wrote in his Diary : — 

Visit of the Queen to Oxford, to the great surprise of every- 
body, as it had been kept a secret up to the time. She arrived 
in Christ Church about twelve, and came into Hall with the 
Dean, where the Collections were still going on, about a 
dozen men being in Hall. The party consisted of the Queen, 
Prince Albert, Princess Alice and her intended husband, the 
Prince of Hesse- Darmstadt, the Prince of Wales, Prince 



86 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

Alfred, and suite. They remained a minute or two looking 
at the pictures, and the Sub-Dean was presented : they then 
visited the Cathedral and Library. Evening entertainment at 
the Deanery, tableaux vivants. I went a little after half-past 
eight, and found a great party assembled — the Prince had not 
yet come. He arrived before nine, and I found an opportunity 
of reminding General Bruce of his promise to introduce me to 
the Prince, which he did at the next break in the conversation 
H.R.H. was holding with Mrs. Fellowes. He shook hands very 
graciously, and I began with a sort of apology for having been so 
importunate about the photograph. He said something of the 
weather being against it, and I asked if the Americans had 
victimised him much as a sitter ; he said they had, but he did 
not think they had succeeded well, and I told him of the 
new American process of taking twelve thousand photo- 
graphs in an hour. Edith Liddell coming by at the moment, 
I remarked on the beautiful tableau which the children 
might make : he assented, and also said, in answer to my 
question, that he had seen and admired my photographs of 
them. I then said that I hoped, as I had missed the 
photograph, he would at least give me his autograph in my 
album, which he promised to do. Thinking I had better bring 
the talk to an end, I concluded by saying that, if he would 
like copies of any of my photographs, I should feel honoured 
by his accepting them ; he thanked me for this, and I then 
drew back, as he did not seem inclined to pursue the conver- 
sation. 

A few days afterwards the Prince gave him his 
autograph, and also chose a dozen or so of his 
photographs. 




X ::; 



CHAPTER III 

(1861-1867) 

Jowett — Index to " In jNIemoriam " — I'he Tennysons — The 
beginning of " Alice " — Tenniel — Artistic friends — "Alice's 
Adventures in Wonderland " — " Bruno's Revenge " — 
Tour with Dr. Liddon — Cologne — Berlin architecture — 
The " Majesty of Justice" — Peterhof — Moscow — A 
Russian wedding — Nijni — The Troitska Monastery — 
" Hieroglyphic " writing — Giessen. 

IT is my aim in this Memoir to let Mr. Dodgson 
tell his own story as much as possible. In 
order to effect this object I have drawn 
largely upon his Diary and correspondence. Very 
few men have left behind them such copious 
information about their lives as he has ; unfor- 
tunately it is not equally copious throughout, and 
this fact must be my apology for the somewhat 
haphazard and disconnected way in which parts 
of this book are written. That it is the best 
which, under the circumstances, I have been able 



90 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to do needs, I hope, no saying, but the circum- 
stances have at times been too strongr for me. 

Though in later years Mr. Dodgson almost 
gave up the habit of dining out, at this time of 
his life he used to do it pretty frequently, and 
several of the notes in his Diary refer to after- 
dinner and Common Room stories. The two 
following extracts will show the sort of facts he 
recorded : — 

January 2, 1861. — Mr. Grey (Canon) came to dine and 
stay the night. He told me a curious old custom of millers, 
that they place the sails of the mill as a Saint Andrew's Cross 
when work is entirely suspended, thus x, but in an upright 
cross, thus +, if they are just going to resume work. He also 
mentioned that he was at school with Dr. Tennyson (father of 
the poet), and was a great favourite of his. He remembers 
that Tennyson used to do his school-translations in rhyme. 

May gth. — Met in Common Room Rev. C. F. Knight, and 
the Hon'"^ F. J. Parker, both of Boston, U.S. The former 
gave an amusing account of having seen Oliver Wendell 
Holmes in a fishmonger's, lecturing extempore on the head of 
a freshly killed turtle, whose eyes and jaws still showed muscular 
action : the lecture of course being all " cram," but accepted as 
sober earnest by the mob outside. 

Old Oxford men will remember the contro- 
versies that raged from about i860 onwards over 
the opinions of the late Dr. Jowett. In my 
time the name "Jowett" only represented the 



LEWIS CARROLL qi 

brilliant translator of Plato, and the deservedly 
loved master of Balliol, whose sermons in the 
little College Chapel were often attended by other 
than Balliol men, and whose reputation for learning 
was expressed in the well-known verse of "The 
Masque of Balliol " : — 

First come I, my name is Jowett. 
There's no knowledge but I know it ; 
I am Master of this College ; 
What I don't know isn't knowledge. 

But in 1 86 1 he was anything but universally 
popular, and I am afraid that Mr. Dodgson, 
nothing if not a staunch Conservative, sided with 
the majority against him. Thus he wrote in his 
Diary : — 

November 20th. — Promulgation, in Congregation, of the new 
statute to endow Jowett. The speaking took up the whole after- 
noon, and the two points at issue, the endowing a Regius Pro- 
fessorship, and the countenancing Jowett's theological opinions, 
got so inextricably mixed up that I rose to beg that they might 
be kept separate. Once on my feet, I said more than I at first 
meant, and defied them ever to tire out the opposition by per- 
petually bringing the question on {Mem. : if I ever speak again 
I will try to say no more than I had resolved before rising). 
This was my first speech in Congregation. 

At the begrinning- of 1862 an '* Index to In 
Memoriam," compiled by Mr. Dodgson and his 



92 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

sisters, was published by Moxoii. Tennyson had 
given his consent, and the Httle book proved to be 
very useful to his admirers. 

On January 27th Morning Prayer was for the 
first time read in English at the Christ Church 
College Service. On the same day Mr. Dodgson 
moved over into new rooms, as the part of the 
College where he had formerly lived (Chaplain's 
Quadrangle) was to be pulled down. 

During the Easter Vacation he paid another 
visit to the Tennysons, which he describes as 
follows : — 

After luncheon I went to the Tennysons, and got Hallam 
and Lionel to sign their names in my album. Also I made a 
bargain with Lionel, that he was to give me some MS. of his 
verses, and I was to send him some of mine. It was a very 
difficult bargain to make ; I almost despaired of it at first, he 
put in so many conditions — first, I was to play a game of chess 
with him ; this, with much difficulty, was reduced to twelve 
moves on each side ; but this made little difference, as I check- 
mated him at the sixth move. Second, he was to be allowed 
to give me one blow on the head with a mallet (this he at last 
consented to give up). I forget if there were others, but it 
ended in my getting the verses, for which I have written out 
" The Lonely Moor " for him. 

Mr. Dodo-son tooK a oreat interest in occult 
phenomena, and was for some time an enthusiastic 
member of the " Psychical Society." It was his 



LEWIS CARROLL 



93 



interest in ghosts that led to his meeting with 
the artist Mr. Heaphy, who had painted a 
picture of a ghost which he himself had seen. 
I quote the following from a letter to his sister 
Mary :— 

During my last visit to town, I paid a very interesting visit 
to a new artist, Mr. Heaphy. Do you remember that curious 
story of a ghost lady (in Household Words or All the Year 
Round), who sat to an artist for her picture ; it was called " Mr. 
H.'s Story," and he was the writer. . . . He received me most 
kindly, and we had a very interesting talk about the ghost, 
which certainly is one of the most curious and inexplicable 
stories I ever heard. He showed me her picture (life size), 
and she must have been very lovely, if it is like her (or like it, 
which ever is the correct pronoun). . . . Mr. Heaphy showed 
me a most interesting collection of drawings he has made 
abroad ; he has been about, hunting up the earliest and most 
authentic pictures of our Saviour, some merely outlines, some 
coloured pictures. They agree wonderfully in the character of 
the face, and one, he says, there is no doubt was done before 
the year 1 50. ... I feel sure from his tone that he is doing 
this in a religious spirit, and not merely as an artist. 

On July 4, 1862, there is a very important 
entry : "I made an expedition zip the river to 
Godstow with the three Liddells ; we had tea on 
the bank there, and did not reach Christ Church, 
till half-past eight." 

On the opposite page he added, somewhat later, 
" On which occasion I told them the fairv-tale of 



94 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



' Alice's Adventures Underground,' which I under- 
took to write out for Alice." 

These words need to be supplemented by the 
verses with which he prefaced the " Wonder- 
land " : — 




LORINA, ALICE, AND EDITH LIDDELL. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 

All in the golden afternoon 

Full leisurely we glide ; 
For both our oars, with little skill, 

By little arms are plied, 
While little hands make vain pretence 

Our wanderings to guide. 



Ah, cruel Three ! In such an hour. 
Beneath such dreamy weather, 



LEWIS CARROLL 

To beg a tale of breath too weak 

To stir the tiniest feather ! 
Yet what can one poor voice avail 

Against three tongues together? 

Imperious Prima flashes forth 

Her edict " to begin it " — 
In gentler tones Secunda hopes 

"There will be nonsense in it ! " 
While Tertia interrupts the tale 

Not more than once a minute. 

Anon, to sudden silence won, 

In fancy they pursue 
The dream-child moving through a land 

Of wonders wild and new, 
In friendly chat with bird or beast 

And half believe it true. 

And ever, as the story drained 

The wells of fancy dry, 
And faintly strove that weary one 

To put the subject by, 
" The rest next time "— " It is next time ! " 

The happy voices cry. 

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland : 

Thus slowly, one by one, 
Its quaint events were hammered out — 

And now the tale is done. 
And home we steer, a merry crew, 

Beneath the setting sun. 

"Alice" herself (Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves) 



95 



96 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

has given an account of the scene, from which 
what follows is quoted : — 

Most of Mr. Dodgson's stories were told to us on river 
expeditions to Nuneham or Godstow, near Oxford. My eldest 
sister, now Mrs. Skene, was "Prima," I was " Secunda," and 
"Tertia" was my sister Edith. I believe the beginning of 
" Alice " was told one summer afternoon when the sun was so 
burning that we had landed in the meadows down the river, 
deserting the boat to take refuge in the only bit of shade to be 
found, which was under a new-made hayrick. Here from all 
three came the old petition of " Tell us a story," and so began 
the ever-delightful tale. Sometimes to tease us — and perhaps 
being really tired — Mr. Dodgson would stop suddenly and 
say, " And that's all till next time." " Ah, but it is next time," 
would be the exclamation from all three ; and after some per- 
suasion the story would start afresh. Another day, perhaps, 
the story would begin in the boat, and Mr. Dodgson, in the 
middle of telling a thrilling adventure, would pretend to go fast 
asleep, to our great dismay. 

"Alice's Adventures Underground" was the 
original name of the story ; later on it became 
"Alice's Hour in Elfland." It was not until 
June 1 8, 1864, that he finally decided upon 
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." The 
illustrating of the manuscript book gave him 
some trouble. He had to borrow a " Natural 
History" from the Deanery to le^Tn the correct 
shapes of some of the strange animals with which 
Alice conversed ; the Mock Turtle he must have 



LEWIS CARROLL 



97 



evolved out of his inner consciousness, for it is, 
I think, a species unknown to naturalists. 

He was lucky enough during- the course of the 
year to see a ceremony which is denied to most 
Oxford men. When degrees are given, any 
tradesman who has been unable to oret his due 
from an undergraduate about to be made a 
Bachelor of Arts is allowed, by custom, to pluck 
the Proctor's gown as he passes, and then to 
make his complaint. This law is more honoured 
in the breach than in the observance ; but, on the 
occasion of this visit of Mr. Dod^son's to Con- 
vocation, the Proctor's gown was actually plucked 
— on account of an unfortunate man who had 
gone through the Bankruptcy Court. 

When he promised to write out " Alice " for 
Miss Liddell he had no idea of publication ; but 
his friend, Mr. George Macdonald, to whom he 
had shown the story, persuaded him to submit it 
to a publisher. Messrs. Macmillan agreed to 
produce it, and as Mr. Dodgson had not suffi- 
cient faith in his own artistic powers to venture 
to allow his illustrations to appear, it was neces- 
sary to find some artist who would undertake 
the work. By the advice of Tom Taylor he 
approached Mr. Tenniel, who was fortunately 




GEORGE MACDONALD. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 



99 



well disposed, and on April 5, 1864, the 
final arrangements were made. 

The following- interestino- account of a meetinof 
with Mr. Dodgson is from the pen of Mrs. Bennie, 
wife of the Rector of Glenfield, near Leicester : — 

Some little time after the publication of " Alice's Adven- 
tures " we went for our summer holiday to Whitby. We were 
visiting friends, and my brother and sister went to the hotel. 
They soon after asked us to dine with them there at the table 
dliotc. I had on one side of me a gentleman whom I did not 
know, but as I had spent a good deal of time travelling in 
foreign countries, I always, at once, speak to any one I am 
placed next. I found on this occasion I had a very agreeable 
neighbour, and we seemed to be much interested in the same 
books, and politics also were touched on. After dinner my 
sister and brother rather took me to task for talking so much 
to a complete stranger. I said, " But it was quite a treat to 
talk to him and to hear him talk. Of one thing I am quite 
sure, he is a genius." My brother and sister, who had not 
heard him speak, again laughed at me, and said, " You are far 
too easily pleased." I, however, maintained my point, and 
said what great delight his conversation had given me, and 
how remarkably clever it had been. Next morning nurse took 
out our two little twin daughters in front of the sea. I went 
out a short time afterwards, looked for them, and found them 
seated with my friend of the table d'hote between them, and 
they were listening to him, open-mouthed, and in the greatest 
state of enjoyment, with his knee covered with minute toys. 
I, seeing their great delight, motioned to him to go on ; this 
he did for some time. A most charming story he told them 
about sea-urchins and Ammonites. When it was over, I said, 
"You must be the author of 'Alice's Adventures.'" He 



lOO 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



laughed, but looked astonished, and said, " My dear Madam, 
my name is Dodgson, and ' Alice's Adventures ' was written 
by Lewis Carroll." I replied, "Then you must have borrowed 
the name, for only he could have told a story as you have just 




J. SANT. 
{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 

done." After a little sparring he admitted the fact, and I 
went home and proudly told my sister and brother how my 
genius had turned out a greater one than I expected. They 
assured me I must be mistaken, and that, as I had suggested 
it to him, he had taken advantage of the idea, and said he was 



LEWIS CARROLL loi 

what I wanted him to be. A few days after some friends 
came to Whitby who knew his aunts, and confirmed the truth 
of his statement, and thus I made the acquaintance of one 
whose friendship has been the source of great pleasure for 
nearly thirty years. He has most generously sent us all his 
books, with kind inscriptions, to " Minnie and Doe," whom 
he photographed, but would not take Canon Bennie or me ; 
he said he never took portraits of people of more than seven- 
teen years of age until they were seventy. He visited us, and 
we often met him at Eastbourne, and his death was indeed a 
great loss after so many happy years of friendship with one we 
so greatly admired and loved. 

He spent a part of the Long Vacation at Fresh- 
water, taking great interest in the children who, 
for him, were the chief attraction of the seaside. 

Every morning four little children dressed in yellow go by 
from the front down to the beach : they go by in a state of great 
excitement, brandishing wooden spades, and making strange 
noises ; from that moment they disappear entirely — they are 
never to be seen on the beach. The only theory I can form 
is, that they all tumble into a hole somewhere, and continue 
excavating therein during the day : however that may be, I have 
once or twice come across them returning at night, in exactly 
the same state of excitement, and seemingly in quite as great 
a hurry to get home as they were before to get out. The 
evening noises they make sound to me very much like the 
morning noises, but I suppose they are different to them, and 
contain an account of the day's achievements. 

His enthusiasm for photography, and his keen 
appreciation of the beautiful, made him prefer the 



102 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

society of artists to that of any other class of 
people. He knew the Rossettis intimately, and 
his Diary shows him to have been acquainted 
with Millais, Holman Hunt, Sant, Westmacott, 
Val Prinsep, Watts, and a host of others. Arthur 
Hughes painted a charming picture to his order 
("The Lady with the Lilacs") which used to hang 
in his rooms at Christ Church. The Andersons 
were great friends of his, Mrs. Anderson being 
one of his favourite child-painters. Those who 
have visited him at Oxford will remember a 
beautiful girl's head, painted by her from a rough 
sketch she had once made in a railway carriage 
of a child who happened to be sitting opposite 
her. 

His own drawings were in no way remarkable. 
Ruskin, whose advice he took on his artistic 
capabilities, told him that he had not enough 
talent to make it worth his while to devote much 
time to sketching, but every one who saw his 
photographs admired them. Considering the 
difficulties of the "wet process," and the fact 
that he had a conscientious horror of " touching 
up " his negatives, the pictures he produced are 
quite wonderful. Some of them were shown to 
the Queen, who said that she admired them very 




HOLMAN HUNT. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



104 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

much, and that they were " such as the Prince 
would have appreciated very highly, and taken 
much pleasure in." 

On July 4, 1865, exactly three years after the 
memorable row up the river. Miss Alice Liddell 
received the first presentation copy of " Alice's 
Adventures in Wonderland " ; the second was 
sent to Princess Beatrice. 

The first edition, which consisted of two 
thousand copies, was condemned by both author 
and illustrator, for the pictures did not come out 
well. All purchasers were accordingly asked to 
return their copies, and to send their names and 
addresses ; a new edition was prepared, and 
distributed to those who had sent back their old 
copies, which the author gave away to various 
homes and hospitals. The substituted edition 
was a complete success, " a perfect piece of 
artistic printing," as Mr. Dodgson called it. He 
hardly dared to hope that more than two thou- 
sand copies would be sold, and anticipated a 
considerable loss over the book. His surprise 
was orreat when edition after edition was de- 
manded, and when he found that "Alice," far 
from being a monetary failure, was bringing him 
in a very considerable incom.e every year. 




SIR JOHN -MILLAIS. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



io6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

A rough comparison between " Alice's Adven- 
tures Underground " and the book in its com- 
pleted form, shows how slight were the alterations 
that Lewis Carroll thought it necessary to make. 

The " Wonderland " is somewhat longer, but 
the general plan of the book, and the simplicity 
of diction, which is one of its principal charms, 
are unchanged. His memory was so good that 
I believe the story as he wrote it down was 
almost word for word the same that he had told 
in the boat. The whole idea came like an inspi- 
ration into his mind, and that sort of inspiration 
does not often come more than once in a lifetime. 
Nothing which he wrote afterwards had any- 
thing like the same amount of freshness, of wit, of 
real genius. The " Looking-Glass " most closely 
approached it in these qualities, but then it was 
only the following out of the same idea. The 
most ingenuous comparison of the two books I 
have seen was the answer of a little girl whom 
Lewis Carroll had asked if she had read them : 
" Oh yes, I've read both of them, and I think," 
(this more slowly and thoughtfully) " I think 
'Through the Looking-Glass ' is more stupid than 
'Alice's Adventures.' Don't you think so.-* " 

The critics were loud in their praises of 



LEWIS CARROLL 107 

" Alice " ; there was hardly a dissentient voice 
among them, and the reception which the public 
gave the book justified their opinion. So recently 
as July, 1898, the Pa// Ma// Gazette conducted 
an inquiry into the popularity of children's books. 
" The verdict is so natural that it will surprise 
no normal person. The winner is ' Alice in 
Wonderland ' ; ' Through the Looking-Glass ' is 
in the twenty, but much lower down." 

" Alice " has been translated into French, 
German, Italian, and Dutch, while one poem, 
"Father William," has even been turned into 
Arabic. Several plays have been based upon 
it ; lectures have been given, illustrated by magic- 
lantern slides of Tenniel's pictures, which have 
also adorned wall-papers and biscuit-boxes. Mr. 
Dodgson himself designed a very ingenious 
" Wonderland " stamp-case ; there has been an 
" Alice " birthday - book ; at schools, children 
have been taught to read out of "Alice," while 
the German edition, shortened and simplified for 
the purpose, has also been used as a lesson-book. 
With the exception of Shakespeare's plays, very 
few, if any, books are so frequently quoted in the 
daily Press as the two " Alices." 

In 1866 Mr. Dodgson was introduced to Miss 



io8 



THE LIFE AXD LETTERS OF 



Charlotte AI. Yoiige, whose novels had long- 
delighted him. "It was a pleasure I had long 
hoped for," he says, " and I w^as very much 




C. JI. VOXGE. 
{From a photograph by Lr^cis Carroll.] 



pleased with her cheerful and easy manners — the 
sort of person one knows in a few minutes as well 
as many in many years." 

In 1867 he contributed a story to Aunt Judys 



LEWIS CARROLL 109 

Magazine called " Bruno's Revenge," the charm- 
ing little idyll out of which " Sylvie and Bruno" 
grew. The creation of Bruno was the only act 
of homage Lewis Carroll ever paid to boy-nature, 
for which, as a rule, he professed an aversion 
almost amounting to terror. Nevertheless, on 
the few occasions on which I have seen him in 
the company of boys, he seemed to be thoroughly 
at his ease, telling them stories and showing them 
puzzles. 

I give an extract from Mrs. Gatty's letter, 
acknowledging the receipt of "Bruno's Revenge " 
for her mao-azine : — 

I need hardly tell you that the story is delicious. It is 
beautiful and fantastic and childlike, and I cannot sufficiently 
thank you. I am so proud for Aunt ^udy that you have 
honoured her by sending it here, rather than to the Cornliill, 
or one of the grander Magazines. 

To-morrow I shall send the Manuscript to London probably ; 
to-day I keep it to enjoy a little further, and that the young 
ladies may do so too. One word more. Make this one of a 
series. You may have great mathematical abilities, but so 
have hundreds of others. This talent is peculiarly your own, 
and as an Englishman you are almost unique in possessing it. 
If you covet fame, therefore, it will be (I think) gained by 
this. Some of the touches are so exquisite, one would have 
thought nothing short of intercourse with fairies could have 
put them into your head. 

Somewhere about this time he was invited to 



no THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

witness a rehearsal of a children's play at a 
London theatre. As he sat in the wings, chat- 
ting to the manager, a little four-year-old girl, 
one of the performers, climbed up on his knee, 
and began talking to him. She was very anxious 
to be allowed to play the principal part (Mrs. 
Mite), which had been assigned to some other 
child. " I wish I might act Mrs. Mite," she 
said ; "I know all her part, and I'd get an encore 
for every word." 

During the year he published his book on 
"Determinants." To those accustomed to regard 
mathematics as the driest of dry subjects, and 
mathematicians as necessarily devoid of humour, 
it seems scarcely credible that "An Elementary 
Treatise on Determinants," and "Alice in Won- 
derland " were written by the same author, and it 
came quite as a revelation to the undergraduate 
who heard for the first time that Mr. Dodgson of 
Christ Church and Lewis Carroll were identical. 

The book in question, admirable as it is in 
many ways, has not commanded a large sale. 
The nature of the subject would be against it, 
as most students whose aim is to get as good a 
place as possible in the class lists cannot afford 
the luxury of a separate work, and have to be 



LEWIS CARROLL in 

content with the few chapters devoted to " Deter- 
minants " in works on Higher Algebra or the 
Theory of Equations, supplemented by references 
to Mr. Dodgson's work which can be found in the 
College libraries. 

The general acceptance of the book would be 
rather restricted by the employment of new 
words and symbols, which, as the author himself 
felt, "are always a most unwelcome addition to 
a science already burdened with an enormous 
vocabulary." But the work itself is largely 
original, and its arrangement and style are, per- 
haps, as attractive as the nature of the subject 
will allow. Such a book as this has little interest 
for the general reader, yet, amongst the leisured 
few who are able to read mathematics for their 
own sake, the treatise has found warm admirers. 

In the Summer Vacation of 1867 he went for a 
tour on the Continent, accompanied by Dr. 
Liddon, whom I have already mentioned as 
having" been one of his most intimate friends at 
this time. During the whole of this tour Mr. 
Dodgson kept a diary, more with the idea that 
it would help him afterwards to remember what 
he had seen than with any notion of publication. 
However, in later years it did occur to him that 



112 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



others might be interested in his impressions and 
experiences, though he never actually took any 
steps towards putting them before the public. 




DR. LIDDON. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.' 



Perhaps he was wise, for a traveller's diary 
always contains much information that can be 
obtained just as well from any guide-book. In 



LEWIS CARROLL 113 

the extracts which I reproduce here, I hope that 
I have not retained anything which comes under 
that category. 

y^iily 12th. — The Sultan and I arrived in London almost at 
the same time, but in different quarters — uiy point of entry being 
Paddington, and his Charing Cross. I must admit that the 
crowd was greatest at the latter place. 

Mr. Dodgson and Dr. Liddon met at Dover, 
and passed the night at one of the hotels there : — 

July I sill- — We breakfasted, as agreed, at eight, or at least 
we then sat down and nibbled bread and butter till such time as 
the chops should be done, which great event took place about 
half-past. We tried pathetic appeals to the wandering waiters, 
who told us, "They are coming, sir," in a soothing tone, and 
we tried stern remonstrance, and they then said, " They are 
coming, sir," in a more injured tone; and after all such appeals 
they retired into their dens, and hid themselves behind side- 
boards and dish-covers, and still the chops came not. We 
agreed that of all virtues a waiter can display, that of a retiring 
disposition is quite the least desirable. . . . 

The pen refuses to describe the sufferings of some of the 
passengers during our smooth trip of ninety minutes : my own 
sensations were those of extreme surprise, and a little indigna- 
tion, at there being no other sensations — it was not for that I 
paid my money. . . . 

We landed at Calais in the usual swarm of friendly natives, 
offering services and advice of all kinds ; to all such remarks I 
returned one simple answer, Non ! It was probably not strictly 
applicable in all cases, but it answered the purpose of getting 
rid of them ; one by one they left me, echoing the Non ! in 
various tones, but all expressive of disgust. 



114 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

At Coloo-ne beran that feast of beautiful thinofs 
which his artistic temperament fitted him so well 
to enjoy. Though the churches he visited and 
the ceremonies he witnessed belong-ed to a 
religious system widely different from his own, 
the largeness and generosity of his mind always 
led him to insist upon that substratum of true 
devotion — to use a favourite word of his — which 
underlies all forms of Christianity. 

We spent an hour in the cathedral, which I will not attempt 
to describe further than by saying it was the most beautiful of 
air churches I have ever seen or can imagine. If one could 
imagine the spirit of devotion enioodied in any material form, 
it would be in such a building. 

In spite of all the wealth of words that has been 
expended upon German art, he found something 
new to say on this most fertile subject : — 

The amount of art lavished on the whole region of Potsdam 
is marvellous ; some of the tops of the palaces were like forests 
of statues, and they were all over the gardens, set on pedestals. 
In' fact, the two principles of Berlin architecture appear to me 
to be these. On the house-tops, wherever there is a con- 
venient place, put up the figure of a man; he is best placed 
standing on one leg. Wherever there is room on the ground, 
put either a circular group of busts on pedestals, in consulta- 
tion, all looking inwards — or else the colossal figure of a man 
killing, about to kill, or having killed (the present tense is pre- 
ferred) a beast ; the more pricks the beast has, the better — in 



LEWIS CARROLL 



T15 



fact a dragon is the correct thing, but if that is beyond the 
artist, he may content himself with a Hon or a pig. The beast- 
kiUing principle has been carried out everywhere with a relent- 
less monotony, which makes some parts of Berlin look like 
a fossil slaughter-house. 

He never missed an opportunity of studying 
the foreign drama, which was most praiseworthy, 
as he knew very little German and not a word of 
Russ : — 

At the hotel [at Danzig] was a green parrot on a stand ; 
we addressed it as " Pretty Poll," and it put its head on one 
side and thought about it, but wouldn't commit itself to any 
statement. The waiter came up to inform us of the reason 
of its silence : " Er spricht nicht Englisch ; er spricht nicht 
Deutsch." It appeared that the unfortunate bird could speak 
nothing but Mexican ! Not knowing a word of that language, 
we could only pity it. 

J^iily 2T,ni. — We strolled about and bought a few photographs, 
and at 11.39 left for Konigsberg. On our way to the station 
we came across the grandest mstance of the " Majesty of 
Justice " that I have ever witnessed. A little boy was being 
taken to the magistrate, or to prison (probably for picking a 
pocket). The achievement of this feat had been entrusted 
to two soldiers in full uniform, who were solemnly marching, 
one in front of the poor little urchin and one behind, with 
bayonets fixed, of course, to be read" to charge in case he 
should attempt an escape. 

T'n/v 2^th. — In the evening I visited the theatre at Konigs- 
berg, which was fairly good in every way, and very good in the 
singing and some of the acting. The play was " Anno 66," but 
I could only catch a few words here and there, so have very 
little idea of the plot. One of the characters was a corre- 



ii6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

spondent of an English newspaper. This singular being came 
on in the midst of a soldiers' bivouac before Sadowa, dressed 
very nearly in white — a very long frock-coat, and a tall hat on 
the back of his head, both nearly white. He said " Morning" 
as a general remark, when he first came on, but afterwards 
talked what I suppose was broken German. He appeared to 
be regarded as a butt by the soldiers, and ended his career 
by falling into a drum. 

From Konigsberg the travellers went on to 
St. Petersburg, where they stayed several days, 
exploring the wonderful city and its environs : — 

There is a fine equestrian statue of Peter the Great near 
the Admiralty. The lower part is not a pedestal, but left 
shapeless and rough like a real rock. The horse is rearing, 
and has a serpent coiled about its hind feet, on which, I think, 
it is treading. If this had been put up in Berlin, Peter would 
no doubt have been actively engaged in killing the monster, 
but here he takes no notice of it ; in fact, the killing theory 
is not recognised. We found two colossal figures of lions, 
which are so painfully mild that each of them is rolling a 
great ball about like a kitten. 

Aug. ist. — About half-past ten Mr. Merrilies called for us, 
and with really remarkable kindness gave up his day to taking 
us down to Peterhof, a distance of about twenty miles, and 
showing us over the place. We went by steamer down the 
tideless, saltless Gulf of Finland ; the first peculiarity extends 
through the Baltic, and the second through a great part of it. 
The piece we crossed, some fifteen miles from shore to shore, 
is very shallow, in many parts only six or eight feet deep, and 
every winter it is entirely frozen over with ice two feet thick, 
and when this is covered with snow it forms a secure plain, 
which is regularly used for travelling on, though the immense 



LEWIS CARROLL 117 

distance, without means of food or shelter, is dangerous for 
poorly clad foot passengers. Mr. Merrilies told us of a friend 
of his who, in crossing last winter, passed the bodies of eight 
people who had been frozen. We had a good view, on our 
way, of the coast of Finland, and of Kronstadt. When we 
landed at Peterhof, we found Mr. Muir's carriage waiting for 
us, and with its assistance, getting out every now and then to 
walk through portions where it could not go, we went over the 
grounds of two imperial palaces, including many little summer- 
houses, each of which would make a very good residence in 
itself, as, though small, they were fitted up and adorned in 
every way that taste could suggest or wealth achieve. For 
varied beauty and perfect combination of nature and art, I 
think the gardens eclipse those of Sans Souci. At every 
corner, or end of an avenue or path, where a piece of statuary 
could be introduced with effect, there one was sure to find 
one, in bronze or in white marble ; many of the latter had a 
sort of circular niche built behind, with a blue background to 
throw the figure into relief. Here we found a series of shelving 
ledges made of stone, with a sheet of water gliding down over 
them ; here a long path, stretching down slopes and flights of 
steps, and arched over all the way with trellises and creepers ; 
here a huge boulder, hewn, just as it lay, into the shape of a 
gigantic head and face, with mild, sphinx-like eyes, as if some 
buried Titan were struggling to free himself ; here a fountain, 
so artfully formed of pipes set in circles, each set shooting the 
water higher than those outside, as to form a solid pyramid 
of glittering spray ; here a lawn, seen through a break in the 
woods below us, with threads of scarlet geraniums running 
over it, and looking in the distance like a huge branch of 
coral ; and here and there long avenues of trees, lying in all 
directions, sometimes three or four together side by side, and 
sometimes radiating like a star, and stretching away into the 
distance till the eye was almost weary of following them. All 



ii8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

this will rather serve to remind me, than to convey any idea, 
of what we saw. 

But the beauties of Peterhof were quite eclipsed 
by the Oriental splendours of Moscow, which 
naturally made a great impression upon a mind 
accustomed to the cold sublimity of Gothic 
architecture at Oxford. 

We gave five or six hours to a stroll through this wonderful 
city, a city of white houses and green roofs, of conical towers 
that rise one out of another like a foreshortened telescope ; of 
bulging gilded domes, in which you see, as in a looking-glass, 
distorted pictures of the city ; of churches which look, outside, 
like bunches of variegated cactus (some branches crowned with 
green prickly buds, others with blue, and others with red and 
white) and which, inside, are hung all round with eikons and 
lamps, and lined with illuminated pictures up to the very roof ; 
and, finally, of pavement that goes up and down like a ploughed 
field, and drojky-dr'wers who insist on being paid thirty per 
cent, extra to-day, " because it is the Empress's birthday." . . . 

Aug. ^th. — After dinner we went by arrangement to Mr. 
Penny, and accompanied him to see a Russian wedding. It 
was a most interesting ceremony. There was a large choir, 
from the cathedral, who sang a long and beautiful anthem 
before the service began ; and the deacon (from the Church 
of the Assumption) delivered several recitative portions of the 
service in the most magnificent bass voice I ever heard, rising 
gradually (I should say by less than half a note at a time if 
that is possible), and increasing in volume of sound as he rose 
in the scale, until his final note rang through the building like 
a chorus of many voices. I could not have conceived that one 
voice could have produced such an effect. One part of the 



LEWIS CARROLL 119 

ceremony, the crowning the married couple, was very nearly 
grotesque. Two gorgeous golden crowns were brought in, 
which the officiating priest first waved before them, and then 
placed on their heads — or rather the unhappy bridegroom had 
to wear his, but the bride, having prudently arranged her hair 
in a rather complicated manner with a lace veil, could not 
have hers put on, but had it held above her by a friend. The 
bridegroom, in plain evening dress, crowned like a king, holding 
a candle, and with a face of resigned misery, would have been 
pitiable if he had not been so ludicrous. When the people 
had gone, we were invited by the priests to see the east end of 
the church, behind the golden gates, and were finally dismissed 
with a hearty shake of the hand and the " kiss of peace," of 
which even I, though m lay costume, came in for a share. 

One of the objects of the tour was to see the 
fair at Nijni Novgorod, and here the travellers 
arrived on August 6th, after a miserable railway 
journey. Owing to the breaking down of a 
bridge, the unfortunate passengers had been 
compelled to walk a mile through drenching rain. 

We went to the Smernovaya (or some such name) Hotel, a 
truly villainous place, though no doubt the best in the town. 
The feeding was very good, and everything else very bad. It 
was some consolation to find that as we sat at dinner we fur- 
nished a subject of the liveliest interest to six or seven waiters, 
all dressed in white tunics, belted at the waist, and white 
trousers, who ranged themselves in a row and gazed in a quite 
absorbed way at the collection of strange animals that were 
feeding before them. Now and then a twinge of conscience 
would seize them that they were, after all, not fulfilling the 



I20 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

great object of life as waiters, and on these occasions they 
would all hurry to the end of the room, and refer to a great 
drawer which seemed to contain nothing but spoons and corks. 
When we asked for anything, they first looked at each other in 
an alarmed way ; then, when they had ascertained which under- 
stood the order best, they all followed his example, which 
always was to refer to the big drawer. We spent most of the 
afternoon wandering through the fair, and buying eikoiis, &c. 
It was a wonderful place. Besides there being distinct quarters 
for the Persians, the Chinese, and others, we were constantly 
meeting strange beings with unwholesome complexions and 
unheard-of costumes. The Persians, with their gentle, intelli- 
gent faces, the long eyes set wide apart, the black hair, and 
yellow-brown skin, crowned with a black woollen fez something 
like a grenadier, were about the most picturesque we met. But 
all the novelties of the day were thrown into the shade by our 
adventure at sunset, when we came upon the Tartar mosque 
(the only one in Nijni) exactly as one of the officials came out 
on the roof to utter the muezzin cry, or call to prayers. Even 
if it had been in no way singular in itself, it would have been 
deeply interesting from its novelty and uniqueness, but the cry 
itself was quite unlike anything I have ever heard before. The 
beginning of each sentence was uttered in a rapid monotone, 
and towards the end it rose gradually till it ended in a pro- 
longed, shrill wail, which floated overhead through the still air 
with an indescribably sad and ghostlike effect ; heard at night, 
it would have thrilled one like the cry of the Banshee. 

This reminds one of the wonderful description 
in Mr. Kipling's "City of Dreadful Night." It 
is not generally known that Mr. Dodgson was a 
fervent admirer of Mr. Kipling's works ; indeed 
during the last few years of his life I think he 



LEWIS CARROLL 121 

took more pleasure in his tales than in those of 
any other modern author. 

Dr. Liddon's fame as a preacher had reached 
the Russian clergy, with the result that he and 
Mr. Dodgson found many doors open to them 
which are usually closed to travellers in Russia. 
After their visit to Nijni Novgorod they returned 
to Moscow, whence, escorted by Bishop Leonide, 
Suffragan Bishop of Moscow, they made an ex- 
pedition to the Troitska Monastery. 

August 12th. — A most interesting day. We breakfasted at 
half-past five, and soon after seven left by railway, in company 
with Bishop Leonide and Mr. Penny, for Troitska Monastery. 
We found the Bishop, in spite of his limited knowledge of 
English, a very conversational and entertaining fellow-traveller. 
The service at the cathedral had already begun when we 
reached it, and the Bishop took us in with him, through a 
great crowd which thronged the building, into a side room 
which opened into the chancel, where we remained during the 
service, and enjoyed the unusual privilege of seeing the clergy 
communicate — a ceremony for which the doors of the chancel 
are always shut, and the curtains drawn, so that the congre- 
gation never witness it. It was a most elaborate ceremony, 
full of crossings, and waving of incense before everything that 
was going to be used, but also clearly full of much deep 
devotion. ... In the afternoon we went down to the Arch- 
bishop's palace, and were presented to him by Bishop Leonide. 
The Archbishop could only talk Russian, so that the conversa- 
tion between him and Liddon (a most interesting one, which 
lasted more than an hour) was conducted in a very original 



122 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

fashion — the Archbishop making a remark in Russian, which 
was put into EngHsh by the Bishop ; Liddon then answered 
the remark in French, and the Bishop repeated his answer in 
Russian to the Archbishop. So that a conversation, entirely 
carried on between two people, required the use of three 
languages ! 

The Bishop had kindly got one of the theological students, 
who could talk French, to conduct us about, which he did most 
zealously, taking us, among other things, to see the subterranean 
cells of the hermits, in which some of them live for many years. 
We were shown the doors of two of the inhabited ones ; it was 
a strange and not quite comfortable feeling, in a dark narrow 
passage where each had to carry a candle, to be shown the 
low narrow door of a little cellar, and to know that a human 
being was living within, with only a small lamp to give him 
light, in solitude and silence day and night. 

His experiences with an exorbitant droj'ky-driver 
at St. Petersburg are worthy of record. They 
remind one of a story which he himself used to tell 
as having happened to a friend of his at Oxford. 
The latter had driven up in a cab to Tom Gate, 
and offered the cabman the proper fare, which 
was, however, refused with scorn. After a long 
altercation he left the irate cabman to be brought 
to reason by the porter, a one-armed giant of 
prodigious strength. Wheii he was leaving college, 
he stopped at the gate to ask the porter how he 
had managed to dispose of the cabman. "Well, 
sir," replied that doughty champion, " I could not 
persuade him to go until I floored him." 



LEWIS CARROLL 123 

After a hearty breakfast I left Liddon to rest and write 
letters, and went off shopping, &c., beginning with a call on 
Mr. Muir at No. 61, Galerne Ulitsa. I took a drojky to the 
house, having first bargained with the driver for thirty kopecks ; 
he wanted forty to begin with. When we got there we had a 
little scene, rather a novelty in my experience of drojky- 
driving. The driver began by saying " Soivk " (forty) as I 
got out ; this was a warning of the coming storm, but I took 
no notice of it, but quietly handed over the thirty. He 
received them with scorn and indignation, and holding them 
out in his open hand, delivered an eloquent discourse in 
Russian, of which sorok was the leading idea. A woman, who 
stood by with a look of amusement and curiosity, perhaps 
understood him. / didn't, but simply held out my hand for 
the thirty, returned them to the purse and counted out twenty- 
five instead. In doing this I felt something like a man pulling 
the string of a shower-bath — and the effect was like it — his 
fury boiled over directly, and quite eclipsed all the former row. 
I told him in very bad Russian that I had offered thirty once, 
but wouldn't again ; but this, oddly enough, did not pacify 
him. Mr. Muir's servant told him the same thing at length, 
and finally Mr. Muir himself came out and gave him the sub- 
stance of it sharply and shortly — but he failed to see it in a 
proper light. Some people are very hard to please. 

When staying at a friend's house at Kronstadt 
he wrote : — 

Liddon had surrendered his overcoat early in the day, and 
when going we found it must be recovered from the waiting- 
maid, who only talked Russian, and as I had left the dic- 
tionary behind, and the little vocabulary did not contain coat, 
we were in some difficulty. Liddon began by exhibiting his 
coat, with much gesticulation, including the taking it half-off. 
To our delight, she appeared to understand at once — -left the 



124 ^^^ L^P^ '^^'^ LETTERS OF 

room, and returned in a minute with — a large clothes-brush. 
On this Liddon tried a further and more energetic demon- 
stration ; he took off his coat, and laid it at her feet, pointed 
downwards (to intimate that in the lower regions was the 
object of his desire), smiled with an expression of the joy and 
gratitude with which he would receive it, and put the coat on 
again. Once more a gleam of intelligence lighted up the 










plain but expressive features of the young person ; she was 
absent much longer this time, and when she returned, she 
brought, to our dismay, a large cushion and a pillow, and 
began to prepare the sofa for the nap that she now saw 
clearly was the thing the dumb gentleman wanted. A happy 
thought occurred to me, and I hastily drew a sketch repre- 
senting Liddon, with one coat on, receiving a second and 
larger one from the hands of a benignant Russian peasant. 



LEWIS CARROLL 125 

The language of hieroglyphics succeeded where all other 
means had failed, and we returned to St. Petersburg with 
the humiliating knowledge that our standard of civilisation was 
now reduced to the level of ancient Nineveh. 

At Warsaw they made a short stay, putting up 
at the Hotel d'Angleterre : — 

Our passage is inhabited by a tall and very friendly grey- 
hound, who walks in whenever the door is opened for a second 
or two, and who for some time threatened to make the labour 
of the servant, who was bringing water for a bath, of no effect, 
by drinking up the water as fast as it was brought. 

From Warsaw they went on to Leipzig, and 
thence to Giessen, where they arrived on 
September 4th. 

We moved on to Giessen, and put up at the "Rappe Hotel" 
for the night, and ordered an early breakfast of an obliging 
waiter who talked English. " Coffee ! " he exclaimed de- 
lightedly, catching at the word as if it were a really original 
idea, " Ah, coffee — very nice — and eggs ? Ham with your 

eggs? Very nice " "If we can have it broiled," I said. 

" Boiled ? " the waiter repeated, with an incredulous smile. 
" No, not boiled," I explained — " broiled." The waiter put 
aside this distinction as trivial, " Yes, yes, ham," he repeated, 
reverting to his favourite idea. "Yes, ham," I said, "but how 
cooked?" "Yes, yes, how cooked," the waiter replied, with 
the careless air of one who assents to a proposition more from 
good nature than from a real conviction of its truth. 

Sept. ^th. — At midday we reached Ems, after a journey 
eventless, but through a very interesting country — valleys 



126 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

winding away in all directions among hills clothed with 
trees to the very top, and white villages nestling away 
wherever there was a comfortable corner to hide in. The 
trees were so small, so uniform in colour, and so continuous, 
that they gave to the more distant hills something of the effect 
of banks covered with moss. The really unique feature of the 
scenery was the way in which the old castles seemed to grow, 
rather than to have been built, on the tops of the rocky pro- 
montories that showed their heads here and there among the 
trees. I have never seen architecture that seemed so entirely 
in harmony with the spirit of the place. By some subtle 
instinct the old architects seem to have chosen both form and 
colour, the grouping of the towers with their pointed spires, 
and the two neutral tints, light grey and brown, on the walls 
and roof, so as to produce buildings which look as naturally 
fitted to the spot as the heath or the harebells. And, like the 
flowers and the rocks, they seemed instinct with no other 
meaning than rest and silence. 

And with these beautiful words my extracts 
from the Diary may well conclude. Lewis 
Carroll's mind was completely at one with 
Nature, and in her pleasant places of calm and 
infinite repose he sought his rest — and has 
found it. 




SIR JOHN TENNIEL. 

(From a photograph by Bassaiio.) 



CHAPTER IV 

(1868-1876) 

Death of Archdeacon Dodgson — Lewis Carroll's rooms at 
Christ Church — "Phantasmagoria" — Translations of 
"Alice" — "Through the Looking-Glass" — "Jabberwocky" 
in Latin— C. S. Calverley.— " Notes by an Oxford Chiel " 
—Hatfield— Vivisection— " The Hunting of the Snark." 

THE success of "Alice in Wonderland" 
tempted Mr. Dodgson to make another 
essay in the same field of literature. His 
idea had not yet been plagiarised, as it was after- 
wards, though the book had of course been 
parodied, a notable instance being " Alice in 
Blunderland," which appeared in Punch. It was 
very different when he came to write " Sylvie 
and Bruno " ; the countless imitations of the two 
" Alice " books which had been foisted upon the 
public forced him to strike out in a new line. 
Long before the publication of his second tale, 
people had heard that Lewis Carroll was writing 

again, and the editor of a well-known magazine 

129 



130 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

had offered him two guineas a page, which was a 
high rate of pay in those days, for the story, if he 
would allow it to appear in serial form. 

The central idea was, as every one knows, the 
adventures of a little g-irl who had somehow or 
other got through a looking-glass. The first 
difficulty, however, was to get her through, and 
this question exercised his ingenuity for some 
time, before it was satisfactorily solved. The 
next thing- was to secure Tenniel's services again. 
At first it seemed that he was to be disappointed 
in this matter ; Tenniel was so fully occupied 
with other work that there seemed little hope 
of his being able to undertake any more. He 
then applied to Sir Noel Paton, with whose fairy- 
pictures he had fallen in love ; but the artist was 
ill, and wrote in reply, " Tenniel is ^/le man." In 
the end Tenniel consented to undertake the 
work, and once more author and artist settled 
down to work together. Mr. Dodgson was no 
easy man to work with ; no detail was too small 
for his exact criticism. " Don't give Alice so 
much crinoline," he would write, or "The White 
Knight must not have whiskers ; he must not 
be made to look old " — such were the directions 
he was constantly giving. 



LEWIS CARROLL 131 

On June 21st Archdeacon Dodgson died, after 
an illness of only a few days' duration. Lewis 
Carroll was not summoned until too late, for the 
illness took a sudden turn for the worse, and he 
was unable to reach his father's bedside before 
the end had come. This was a terrible shock 
to him ; his father had been his ideal of what 
a Christian gentleman should be, and it seemed 
to him at first as if a cloud had settled on his 
life which could never be dispelled. Two letters 
of his, both of them written long after the sad 
event, give one some idea of the grief which his 
father's death, and all that it entailed, caused 
him. The first was written long afterwards, to 
one who had suffered a similar bereavement. In 
this letter he said : — 

We are sufficiently old friends, I feel sure, for me to have 
no fear that I shall seem intrusive in writing about your great 
sorrow. The greatest blow that has ever fallen on my life was 
the death, nearly thirty years ago, of my own dear father ; so, 
in offering you my sincere sympathy, I write as a fellow- 
sufferer. And I rejoice to know that we are not only fellow- 
sufferers, but also fellow-believers in the blessed hope of the 
resurrection from the dead, which makes such a parting holy 
and beautiful, instead of being merely a blank despair. 

The second was written to a young friend. Miss 
Edith Rix, who had sent him an illuminated text: 



132 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

My dear Edith, — I can now tell you (what I wanted to 
do when you sent me that text-card, but felt I could not say it 
to two listeners, as it were) why that special card is one 
I like to have. That text is consecrated for me by the 
memory of one of the greatest sorrows I have known — the 
death of my dear father. In those solemn days, when we 
used to steal, one by one, into the darkened room, to take 
yet another look at the dear calm face, and to pray for 
strength, the one feature in the room that I remember was a 
framed text, illuminated by one of my sisters, " Then are they 
glad, because they are at rest ; and so he bringeth them into 
the haven where they would be ! " That text will always 
have, for me, a sadness and a sweetness of its own. Thank 
you again for sending it me. Please don't mention this when 
we meet. I can't talk about it. 

Always affectionately yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The object of his edition of Euclid Book V., 
published during the course of the year, was to 
meet the requirements of the ordinary Pass 
Examination, and to present the subject in as 
short and simple a form as possible. Hence the 
Theory of Incommensurable Magnitudes was 
omitted, though, as the author himself said in 
the Preface, to do so rendered the work incom- 
plete, and, from a logical point of view, valueless. 
He hinted pretty plainly his own preference for 
an equivalent amount of Algebra, which would 
be complete in itself It is easy to understand 
this preference in a mind so strictly logical as his. 



LEWIS CARROLL 133 

So far as the object of the book itself is con- 
cerned, he succeeded admirably ; the propositions 
are clearly and beautifully worked out, and the 
hints on proving Propositions in Euclid Book V., 
are most useful. 

In November he again moved into new rooms 
at Christ Church ; the suite which he occupied 
from this date to the end of his life was one of 
the best in the College. Situated at the north- 
west corner of Tom Quad, on the first floor of the 
staircase from the entrance to which the Junior 
Common Room is now approached, they consist 
of four sitting-rooms and about an equal number 
of bedrooms, besides rooms for lumber, &c. From 
the upper floor one can easily reach the flat college 
roof. Mr. Dodg^son saw at once that here was 
the very place for a photographic studio, and he 
lost no time in obtaining the consent of the 
authorities to erect one. Here he took in- 
numerable photographs of his friends and their 
children, as indeed he had been doino- for some 
time under less favourable conditions. One of 
his earliest pictures is an excellent likeness of 
Professor Faraday. 

His study was characteristic of the man ; oil 
paintings by A. Hughes, Mrs. Anderson, and 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 135 

Heaphy proclaimed his artistic tastes ; nests of 
pigeon-holes, each neatly labelled, showed his 
love of order ; shelves, filled with the best books 




PROF. FARADAY. 

{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



on every subject that interested him, were 
evidence of his wide reading. His library has 
now been broken up and, except for a few books 
retained by his nearest relatives, scattered to the 



136 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

winds ; such dispersions are inevitable, but they 
are none the less regrettable. It always seems to 
me that one of the saddest things about the death 
of a literary man is the fact that the breaking-up 
of his collection of books almost invariably follows; 
the building up of a good library, the work of a 
lifetime, has been so much labour lost, so far as 
future generations are concerned. Talent, yes, 
and genius too, are displayed not only in writing 
books but also in buying them, and it is a pity 
that the ruthless hammer of the auctioneer should 
render so much energy and skill fruitless. 

Lewis Carroll's dining-room has been the scene 
of many a pleasant little party, for he was very 
fond of entertaining. In his Diary, each of the 
dinners and luncheons that he gave is recorded 
by a small diagram, which shows who his guests 
were, and their several positions at the table. He 
kept a 7;iemi- book as well, that the same people 
might not have the same dishes too frequently. 
He sometimes gave large parties, but his favourite 
form of social relaxation was a diner a deux. 

At the beginning of 1869 his "Phantasmagoria," 
a collection of poems grave and gay, was pub- 
lished by Macmillan. Upon the whole he was 
more successful in humorous poetry, but there is 



LEWIS CARROLL 



137 



an undeniable dignity and pathos in his more 
serious verses. He gave a copy to Mr. Justice 
Denman, with whom he afterwards came to be 




JUSTICE DEX.MAX. 
(From a photograpli by Leuns Carroll.) 



very well acquainted, and who appreciated the 
gift highly. " I did not lay down the book," he 
wrote, " until I had read them [the poems] 



138 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

through ; and enjoyed many a hearty laugh, and 
something like a cry or two. Moreover, I hope 
to read them through (as the old man said) 'again 
and again.' " 

It had been Lewis Carroll's intention to have 
"Phantasmagoria" illustrated, and he had asked 
George du Maurier to undertake the work ; but 
the plan fell through. In his letter to du Maurier, 
Mr. Dodgson had made some inquiries about 
Miss Florence Montgomery, the authoress of 
** Misunderstood," In reply du Maurier said, 
" Miss Florence Montgomery is a very charming 
and sympathetic young lady, the daughter of the 
admiral of that ilk. I am, like you, a very 
great admirer of " Misunderstood," and cried 
pints over it. When I was doing the last picture 
I had to put a long white pipe in the little boy's 
mouth until it was finished, so as to get rid of 
the horrible pathos of the situation while I was 
executinor the work. In reading; the book a 
second time (knowing the sad end of the dear 
little boy), the funny parts made me cry almost as 
much as the pathetic ones " 

A few days after the publication of " Phantas- 
magoria," Lewis Carroll sent the first chapter of 
his new story to the press. " Behind the Look- 



LEWIS CARROLL 



^39 



ing- Glass and what Alice saw there " was his 
original idea for its title ; it was Dr. Liddon who 
suggested the name finally adopted. 

During this year German and French trans- 
lations of "Alice in Wonderland " were published 
by Macmillan ; the Italian edition appeared in 
1872. Henri Bue, who was responsible for the 
French version, had no easy task to perform. In 
many cases the puns proved quite untranslatable ; 
while the poems, being parodies on well-known 
English pieces, would have been pointless on the 
other side of the Channel. For instance, the 
lines beginning, "How doth the little crocodile " 
area parody on " How doth the little busy bee," 
a song which a French child has, of course, never 
heard of. In this case Bu^ gave up the idea of 
translation altogether, and, instead, parodied La 
Fontaine's " Maitre Corbeau " as follows : — 

Maitre Corbeau sur un arbre perche 
Faisait son nid entre des branches ; 
II avait releve ses manches, 
Car il etait tres affaire. 
Maitre Renard par la passant, 
Lui dit : " Descendez done, compere ; 
Venez embrasser votre frere ! " 
Le Corbeau, le reconnaissant, 
Lui repondit en son ramage ! — 
" Fromage." 



140 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

The dialogue in which the joke occurs about 
"tortoise" and "taught us" ("Wonderland," 
p. 142) is thus rendered : — 

" La maitresse etait une vieille tortue ; nous I'appelions 
chelonee." " Et pourquoi I'appeliez-vous chelonee, si ce n'etait 
pas son nom ? " " Parcequ'on ne pouvait s'empecher de 
s'ecrier en la voyant : Quel long nez ! " dit la Fausse — Tortue 
d'un ton fache ; " vous etes vraiment bien bornee ! 

At two points, however, both M. Bue and Miss 
Antonie Zimmermann, who translated the tale 
into German, were fairly beaten : the reason for 
the whiting being so called, from its doing the 
boots and shoes, and for no wise fish going any- 
where without a porpoise, were given up as 
untranslatable. 

At the beginning of 1870 Lord Salisbury came 
up to Oxford to be installed as Chancellor of the 
University. Dr. Liddon introduced Mr. Dodgson 
to him, and thus began a very pleasant acquaint- 
ance. Of course he photographed the Chancellor 
and his two sons, for he never missed an oppor- 
tunity of getting distinguished people into his 
studio. 

In December, seven " Puzzles from Wonder- 
land " appeared in Mrs. Gatty's paper. Aunt 
Judys Magazine. They had originally been 




LORD SALISBURY AND HIS TWO SONS. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



142 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

written for the Cecil children, with whom Lewis 
Carroll was already on the best terms. Mean- 
while " Through the Looking-Glass " was steadily 
progressing — not, however, without many little 
hitches. One question which exercised Mr. 
Dodgson very much was whether the picture of 
the Jabberwock would do as a frontispiece, or 
whether it would be too frightening for little chil- 
dren. On this point he sought the advice of 
about thirty of his married lady friends, whose 
experiences with their own children would make 
them trustworthy advisers ; and in the end he 
chose the picture of the White Knight on 
horseback. In 1871 the book appeared, and was 
an instantaneous success. Eight thousand of the 
first edition had been taken up by the booksellers 
before Mr. Dodgson had even received his own 
presentation copies. The compliments he re- 
ceived upon the " Looking-Glass " would have 
been enough to turn a lesser man's head, but he 
was, I think, proof against either praise or blame. 

I can say with a clear head and conscience [wrote Henry 
Kingsley] that your new book is the finest thing we have had 
since " Martin Chuzzlewit." ... I can only say, in comparing 
the new " Alice " with the old, " this is a more excellent song 
than the other." It is perfectly splendid, but you have, doubt- 
less, heard that from other quarters. I lunch with Macmillan 



LEUIS CARROLL 143 

habitually, and he was in a terrible pickle about not having 
printed enough copies the other day. 

Jabberwocky ^ was at once recognised as the 
best and most original thing in the book, though 
one fair correspondent of Tke Q?teen declared that 
it was a translation from the German ! The late 
Dean of Rochester, Dr. Scott, writes about it to 
Mr. Dodgson as follows : — 

Are we to suppose, after all, that the Saga of Jabberwocky is 
one of the universal heirlooms which the Aryan race at its dis- 
persion carried with it from the great cradle of the family? 
You must really consult Max Miiller about this. It begins to 
be probable that the origo onginalissima may be discovered in 
Sanscrit, and that we shall by and by have a lahrivokaveda. 
The hero will turn out to be the Sun-god in one of his Avatars ; 
and the Tumtum tree the great Ash Ygdrasil of the Scandinavian 
mythology. 

In March, 1872, the late Mr. A. A. Vansittart, 
of Trinity College, Cambridge, translated the 
poem into Latin elegiacs. His rendering was 
printed, for private circulation only, I believe, 
several years later, but will probably be new to 
most of my readers. A careful comparison with 

' Lewis Carroll composed this poem while staying with his 
cousins, the Misses Wilcox, at Whitburn, near Sunderland. 
To while away an evening the whole party sat down to a game 
of verse-making, and " Jabberwocky " was his contribution. 



144 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the original shows the wonderful fidelity of this 
translation : — 

"MORS lABROCHII." 

Coesper ^ erat : tunc lubriciles ^ ultravia circum 

Urgebant gyros gimbiculosque tophi ; 
Moestenui viste borogovides ire nieatu ; 

Et profugi gemitus exgrabuere rathae. 

O fuge labrochium, sanguis meus 1 3 Ille recurvis 
Unguibus, estque avidis dentibus ille minax. 

Ububae fuge cautus avis vim, gnate ! Neque unquam 
F?edarpax contra te frumiosus eat ! 

Vorpali gladio juvenis succingitur : hostis 

Manxumus ad medium quaeritur usque diem : 

Jamque via fesso, sed plurima mente prementi, 
Tumtumige frondis suaserat umbra moram. 

Consilia interdum stetit egnia '^ mente revolvens : 
At gravis in densa fronde susufifrus 5 erat, 

Spiculaque ^ ex oculis jacientis flammea, tulscam 
Per silvam venit burbur 7 labrochii ! 

Vorpali, semel atque iterum coUectus in ictum, 
Persnicuit gladio persnacuitque puer : 

Deinde galumphatus, spernens informe cadaver, 
Horrendum monstri rettulit ipse caput. 

' C(£sper from cmia and vesper. 

^ Lubriciles, from lubricus and graciles. See the commentary in 
" Humpty Dumpty's square," which will also explain ultravia, and, if it 
requires explanation, mcestetmi. 

3 Sanguis vieits : Verg. M.v\. vi. 836 — 

" Projice tela manu, sanguis meus ! " 

■* Egnia: " muffish " = j-fj^/z/y y therefore " uffish " = ^^^/j. This is a 
conjectural analogy, but I can suggest no better solution. 

5 Stisnffrus : " whiffling, " j?<i'«;77« ; "whistling." 

* Spicitla : see the picture. 

7 Burbur : apparently a labial variation of imirmur, stronger but more 
dissonant. 



LEWIS CARROLL 145 

Victor labrochii, spoliis insignis opimis, 

Rursus in amplexus, o radiose, meos ! 
O frabiose dies ! Callo clamateque Calla ! 

Vix potuit laetus chorticulare pater. 

Ccesper erat : tunc lubriciles ultravia circum 

Urgebant gyros gimbiculosque tophi ; 
Moestenui visae borogovides ire meatu ; 

Et profugi gemitus exgrabuere rath«. 

A. A. V. 

JABBERWOCKY. 

'Twas brillig, and the sUthy toves 

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe ; 
All mimsy were the borogroves, 

And the mome raths outgrabe. 

" Beware the Jabberwock, my son ! 

The jaws that bite, the claws that scratch ! 
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun 

The frumious Bandersnatch ! " 

He took his vorpal sword in hand : 

Long time the manxome foe he sought — 

So rested he by the Tumtum tree, 
And stood awhile in thought. 

And as in uffish thought he stood, 

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame. 
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood 

And burbled as it came ! 

One, two ! One, two ! And through and through 

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack ! 
He left it dead, and with its head 

He went galumphing back. 



146 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

" And hast thou slain the Jabberwock ? 

Come to my arms, my beamish boy ! 
O frabjous day ! Callooh ! Callay ! " 

He chortled in his joy. 

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe ; 
All mimsy were the borogroves, 

And the mome raths outgrabe. 

The story, as originally written, contained 
thirteen chapters, but the published book con- 
sisted of twelve only. The omitted chapter 
introduced a wasp, in the character of a judge 
or barrister, I suppose, since Mr. Tenniel wrote 
that " a wasp in a wi^' is altogether beyond the 
appliances of art." Apart from difficulties of 
illustration, the " wasp " chapter was not con- 
sidered to be up to the level of the rest of the 
book, and this was probably the principal reason 
of its being left out. 

" It is a curious fact," wrote Mr. Tenniel some 
years later, when replying to a request of Lewis 
Carroll's that he would illustrate another of his 
books, " that with ' Through the Looking-Glass ' 
the faculty of making drawings for book illustra- 
tion departed from me, and, notwithstanding all 
sorts of tempting inducements, I have done 
nothing^ in that direction since." 



^^es 







7 



J!^^^ V^/te#.'^ ^^^^^ *-^ ^tr€iy 

\ 






{Facsimile of a letterfrom Slr^ohn Tennlel to Lewis Carroll, '^utte i, 1870.' 



150 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

** Through the Looking Glass " has recently 
appeared in a solemn judgment of the House 
of Lords. In Eastman Photogi^aphic Materials 
Company v. Comptroller Genei^al of Patents, 
Designs, and Trademarks (1898), the question 
for decision was, What constitutes an invented 
word? A trademark that consists of or contains 
an invented word or words is capable of registra- 
tion. " Solio " was the word in issue in the case. 
Lord Macnaghten in his judgment said, when 
alluding to the distinguishing characteristics of 
an invented word : — 

I do not think that it is necessary that it should be wholly 
meaningless. To give an illustration : your lordships may 
remember that in a book of striking humour and fancy, which 
was in everybody's hands when it was first published, there is 
a collection of strange words where " there are " (to use the 
language of the author) " two meanings packed up into one 
word." No one would say that those were not invented 
words. Still they contain a meaning — a meaning is wrapped 
up in them if you can only find it out. 

Before I leave the subject of the " Looking- 
Glass," I should like to mention one or two 
circumstances in connection with it which illus- 
trate his reverence for sacred things. In his 
original manuscript the bad-tempered flower 
(pp. 28-33) w^s ^^ passion-flower ; the sacred 



LEWIS CARROLL 



151 



origin of the name never struck him, until it was 
pointed out to him by a friend, when he at once 
changed it into the tiger-lily. Another friend 
asked him if the final scene was based upon the 
triumphal conclusion of *' Pilgrim's Progress." 
He repudiated the idea, saying that he would 
consider such trespassing on holy ground as highly 
irreverent. 

He seemed never to be satisfied with the 
amount of work he had on hand, and in 1872 he 
determined to add to his other labours by study- 
ing anatomy and physiology. Professor Barclay 
Thompson supplied him with a set of bones, and, 
having purchased the needful books, he set to- 
work in good earnest. His mind was first turned 
to acquiring medical knowledge by his happening 
to be at hand when a man was seized with an 
epileptic fit. He had prevented the poor creature 
from falling, but was utterly at a loss what to do 
next. To be better prepared on any future occa- 
sion, he bought a little manual called " What to 
do in Emergencies." In later years he was con- 
stantly buying medical and surgical works, and by 
the end of his life he had a library of which no 
doctor need have been ashamed. There were 
only two special bequests in his will, one of some 



152 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

small keepsakes to his landlady at Eastbourne, 
Mrs. Dyer, and the other of his medical books to 
my brother. 

Whenever a new idea presented itself to his 
mind he used to make a note of it ; he even in- 
vented a system by which he could take notes in 
the dark, if some happy thought or ingenious 
problem suggested itself to him during a sleep- 
less night. Like most men who systematically 
overtax their brains, he was a poor sleeper. He 
would sometimes ^o throug-h a whole book of 
Euclid in bed ; he was so familiar with the book- 
work that he could actually see the figures before 
him in the dark, and did not confuse the letters, 
which is perhaps even more remarkable. 

Most of his ideas were ingenious, though many 
were entirely useless from a practical point of 
view. For instance, he has an entry in his Diary 
on November 8, 1872 : " I wrote to Calverley, 
suggesting an idea (which I think occurred to me 
yesterday) of guessing well-known poems as 
acrostics, and making a collection of them to 
hoax the public." Calverley 's reply to this letter 
was as follows : — 

My dear Sir, — I have been laid up (or laid down) for the 
last few days by acute lumbago, or I would have written before. 



LEWIS CARROLL 153 

It is rather absurd that I was on the point of propounding to 
you this identical idea. I realised, and I regret to add re- 
vealed to two girls, a fortnight ago, the truth that all existing 
poems were in fact acrostics ; and I offered a small pecuniary- 
reward to whichever would find out Gray's " Elegy " within 
half an hour ! But it never occurred to me to utilise the 
discovery, as it did to you. I see that it might be utilised, 
now you mention it — and I shall instruct these two young 
women not to publish the notion among their friends. 

This is the way Mr. Calverley treated Kirke 
White's poem "To an early Primrose." "The 
title," writes C. S. C, " might either be ignored 
or omitted. Possibly carpers might say that a 
primrose was not a rose." 

Mild offspring of a dark and sullen sire ! 

Whose modest form, so delicately fine, Wild 

Was nursed in whistling storms Rose 

And cradled in the winds ! 

Thee, when young Spring first questioned 

Winter's sway. 
And dared the sturdy blusterer to the fight, W a R 

Thee on this bank he threw 

To mark his victory. 

In this low vale, the promise of the year, 
Serene thou openest to the nipping gale, 

Unnoticed and alone I ncognit O 

Thy tender elegance. 



154 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

So Virtue blooms, brought forth amid the 

storms 
Of chill adversity, in some lone walk 

Of life she rears her head L owlines S 

Obscure and unobserved. 

While every bleaching breeze that on her 

blows 
Chastens her spotless purity of breast, 

And hardens her to bear D isciplin E 

Serene the ills of life. 

In the course of their correspondence Mr. 
Calverley wrote a Shakespearian sonnet, the initial 
letters of which form the name of William 
Herbert ; and a parody entitled " The New 
Hat." I reproduce them both. 

When o'er the world Night spreads her mantle dun, 

In dreams, my love, I see those stars, thine eyes, 
Lighting the dark : but when the royal sun 

Looks o'er the pines and fires the orient skies, 
I bask no longer in thy beauty's ray, 

And lo ! my world is bankrupt of delight. 
Murk night seemed lately fair-complexioned day ; 

Hope-bringing day now seems most doleful night. 
End, weary day, that art no day to me ! 

Return, fair night, to me the best of days ! 
But O my rose, whom in my dreams I see. 

Enkindle with like bliss my waking gaze ! 
Replete with thee, e'en hideous night grows fair : 
Then what would sweet morn be, if thou wert there ? 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 155 

THE NEW HAT. 

My boots had been wash'd, well wash'd, by a shower; 

But little I car'd about that : 
What I felt was the havoc a single half-hour 

Had made with my beautiful Hat. 

For the Boot, tho' its lustre be dimm'd, shall assume 

New comeliness after a while ; 
But no art may restore its original bloom, 

When once it hath fled, to the Tile. 

I clomb to my perch, and the horses (a bay 

And a brown) trotted off with a clatter ; 
The driver look'd round in his humorous Avay, 

And said huskily, " Who is your hatter ? " 

I was pleased that he'd noticed its shape and its shine; 

And, as soon as we reached the " Old Druid," 
I begged him to drink to its welfare and mine 

In a glass of my favourite fluid. 

A gratified smile sat, I own, on my lips 

When the barmaid exclaimed to the master, 

(He was standing inside with his hands on his hips), 
" Just look at that gentleman's castor." 

I laughed, when an organman paus'd in mid-air — 

('Twas an air that I happened to know, 
By a great foreign maestro) — expressly to stare 

At ze gent wiz zejoli chapeau. 

Yet how swift is the transit from laughter to tears ! 

How rife with results is a day ! 
That Hat might, with care, have adorned me for years; 

But one show'r wash'd its beauty away. 



J 56 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

How I lov'd thee, my Bright One ! I pluck in remorse 
My hands from my pockets and wring 'em : 

Oh, why did not I, dear, as a matter of course, 
Ere I purchas'd thee purchase a gingham ? 

C. S. Calverley. 



Mr. Dodgson spent the last night of the old 
year (1872) at Hatfield, where he was the guest 
of Lord Salisbury. There was a large party of 
children in the house, one of them being Princess 
Alice, to whom he told as much of the story of 
" Sylvie and Bruno " as he had then composed. 
While the tale was in progress Lady Salisbury 
entered the room, bringing in some new toy or 
ofame to amuse her little o^uests, who, with the 
usual thoughtlessness of children, all rushed off 
and left Mr. Dodgson. But the little Princess, 
suddenly appearing to remember that to do so 
might perhaps hurt his feelings, sat down again 
by his side. He read the kind thought which 
prompted her action, and was much pleased by it. 

As Mr. Dodofson knew several members of the 
Punch staff, he used to send up any little inci- 
dents or remarks that particularly amused him to 
that paper. He even went so far as to suggest 
subjects for cartoons, though I do not know 
if his ideas were ever carried out. One of the 



LEWIS CARROLL 



157 



anecdotes he sent to Punch was that of a 
Httle boy, aged four, who after having listened 
with much attention to the story of Lot's wife, 
asked ingenuously, "Where does salt come from 
that's not made of ladies ? " This appeared on 
January 3, 1874. 

The following is one of several such little 
anecdotes jotted down by Lewis Carroll for 
future use : Dr. Paget was conducting a school 
examination, and in the course of his questions 
he happened to ask a small child the meaning of 
"Average." He was utterly bewildered by the 
reply, "The thing that hens lay on," until the 
child explained that he had read in a book that 
hens lay on an average so many eggs a year. 

Among the notable people whom he photo- 
graphed was John Ruskin, and, as several friends 
begged him for copies, he wrote to ask Mr. 
Ruskin's leave. The reply was, " Buy Number 5 
of Fors Clavigera for 1871, which will give you 
your answer." This was not what Mr. Dodgson 
wanted, so he wrote back, " Can't afford ten- 
pence ! " Finally Mr. Ruskin gave his consent. 

About this time came the anonymous publica- 
tion of " Notes by an Oxford Chiel," a collection 
of papers written on various occasions, and all of 



158 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

them dealing with Oxford controversies. Taking 
them in order, we have first " The New Method 
of Evaluation as applied to tt," first published by 




JOHN RUSKIN. 

{Front a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



Messrs. Parker in 1865, which had for its subject 
the controversy about the Regius Professorship 
of Greek. One extract will be sufficient to show 



LEWIS CARROLL 159 

the way in which the affair was treated : " Let 
U = the University, G = Greek, and P = Professor. 
Then G P = Greek Professor ; let this be reduced 
to its lowest terms and call the result J [i.e., 
Jowett]." 

The second paper is called "The Dynamics of 
a Parti-cle," and is quite the best of the series; it 
is a geometrical treatment of the contest between 
Mr. Gathorne Hardy and Mr. Gladstone for the 
representation of the University. Here are some 
of the " Definitions with which the subject was 
introduced : — 

Plain Superficiality is the character of a speech, in which 
any two points being taken, the speaker is found to He wholly 
with regard to those two points. 

Plain Anger is the inclination of two voters to one another, 
who meet together, but whose views are not in the same 
direction. 

When two parties, coming together, feel a Right Anger, each 
is said to be complimentary to the other, though, strictly 
speaking, this is very seldom the case. 

A surd is a radical whose meaning cannot be exactly 
ascertained. 

As the " Notes of an Oxford Chiel " has been 
long out of print, I will give a few more extracts 
from this paper : — 

On Differentiation. 
The effect of Differentiation on a Particle is very remarkable,, 



i6o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ■ 

the first differential being frequently of greater value than the 
original particle, and the second of less enlightenment. 

For example, let L=" Leader," S = " Saturday," and then 
LS = " Leader in the Saturday" (a particle of no assignable 
value). Differentiating once, we get L.S.D., a function of great 
value. Similarly it will be found that, by taking the second 
Differential of an enlightened Particle (i.e., raising it to the 
Degree D.D.), the enlightenment becomes rapidly less. The 
effect is much increased by the addition of a C : in this case 
the enlightenment often vanishes altogether, and the Particle 
becomes Conservative. 

PROPOSITIONS. 

Prop. I. Pr. 

To find the value of a given Examiner. 

Example. — A takes in ten books in the Final Examination 
and gets a 3rd class ; B takes in the Examiners, and gets a 
2nd. Find the value of the Examiners in terms of books. 
Find also their value in terms in which no Examination is 
held. 

Prop. II. Pr. 

To estimate Profit and Loss. 

Example. — Given a Derby Prophet, who has sent three 
different winners to three different betting-men, and given that 
none of the three horses are placed. Find the total loss 
incurred by the three men (a) in money, (b) in temper. Find 
also the Prophet. Is this latter usually possible ? 

Prop. IV. Th. 

The end (i.e., ** the product of the extremes ") justifies (i.e., " is 
equal to " — see Latin " a'quus ") the means. 

No example is appended to this Proposition, for obvious 
reasons. 



LEWIS CARROLL i6i 

Prop. V. Pr. 

To continue a given series. 

Example. — A and B, who are respectively addicted to Fours 
and Fives, occupy the same set of rooms, which is always at 
Sixes and Sevens. Find the probable amount of reading done 
by A and B while the Eights are on. 

The third paper was entitled " Facts, Figures, 
and Fancies." The best thing in it was a parody 
on "The Deserted Village," from which an 
extract will be found in a later chapter. There 
was also a letter to the Senior Censor of Christ 
Church, in burlesque of a similar letter in which 
the Professor of Physics met an offer of the 
Clarendon Trustees by a detailed enumeration 
of the requirements in his own department of 
Natural Science. Mr. Dod^son's letter deals 
with the imaginary requirements of the Mathe- 
matical school : — 

Dear Senior Censor, — In a desultory conversation on a 
point connected with the dinner at our high table, you inci- 
dentally remarked to me that lobster-sauce, " though a 
necessary adjunct to turbot, was not entirely wholesome ! " 

It is entirely unwholesome. I never ask for it without 
reluctance : I never take a second spoonful without a feeling 
of apprehension on the subject of a possible nightmare. This 
naturally brings me to the subject of Mathematics, and of the 
accommodation provided by the University for carrying on the 
calculations necessary in that important branch of Science. 



1 62 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

As Members of Convocation are called upon (whether per- 
sonally, or, as is less exasperating, by letter) to consider the 
offer of the Clarendon Trustees, as well as every other subject 
of human, or inhuman, interest, capable of consideration, it 
has occurred to me to suggest for your consideration how 
desirable roofed buildings are for carrying on mathematical 
calculations : in fact, the variable character of the weather 
in Oxford renders it highly inexpedient to attempt much 
occupation, of a sedentary nature, in the open air. 

Again, it is often impossible for students to carry on 
accurate mathematical calculations in close contiguity to one 
another, owing to their mutual conversation ; consequently 
these processes require different rooms in which irrepressible 
conversationalists, who are found to occur in every branch of 
Society, might be carefully and permanently fixed. 

It may be sufificient for the present to enumerate the following 
requisites — others might be added as funds permit : — 

A. A very large room for calculating Greatest Common 
Measure. To this a small one might be attached for Least 
Common Multiple : this, however, might be dispensed with. 

B. A piece of open ground for keeping Roots and practising 
their extraction : it would be advisable to keep Square Roots 
by themselves, as their corners are apt to damage others. 

C. A room for reducing Fractions to their Lowest Terms. 
This should be provided with a cellar for keeping the Lowest 
Terms when found, which might also be available to the 
general body of Undergraduates, for the purpose of " keeping 
Terms." 

D. A large room, which might be darkened, and fitted up 
with a magic lantern, for the purpose of exhibiting circulating 
Decimals in the act of circulation. This might also contain 
cupboards, fitted with glass doors, for keeping the various 
Scales of Notation. 

E. A narrow strip of ground, railed off and carefully 
levelled, for investigating the properties of Asymptotes, and 



LEWIS CARROLL 163 

testing practically whether Parallel Lines meet or not : for 
this purpose it should reach, to use the expressive language 
of Euclid, " ever so far." 

This last process of " continually producing the lines," may 
require centuries or more ; but such a period, though long in 
the life of an individual, is as nothing in the life of the 
University. 

As Photography is now very much employed in recording 
human expressions, and might possibly be adapted to Algebraical 
Expressions, a small photographic room would be desirable, 
both for general use and for representing the various phenomena 
of Gravity, Disturbance of Equilibrium, Resolution, &c., which 
affect the features during severe mathematical operations. 

May I trust that you will give your immediate attention to 
this most important subject ? 

Believe me, 

Sincerely yours, 

Mathematicus. 

Next came " The New Belfry of Christ Church, 
Oxford ; a Monograph by D. C. L." On the title- 
page was a neatly drawn square — the figure of 
Euclid I. 46 — below which was written " East 
view of the New Belfry, Christ Church, as seen 
from the meadow." The new belfry is fortunately 
a thing of the past, and its insolent hideousiiess 
no longer defaces Christ Church, but while it 
lasted it was no doubt an excellent target for 
Lewis Carroll's sarcasm. His article on it is 
divided into thirteen chapters. Three of them 
are perhaps worth quoting : — 



1 64 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

§1. On the etymological significance of the new Belfty, 
Ch. Ch. 

The word " Belfry " is derived from the French bel, 
"beautiful, becoming, meet," and from the German frei, "free 
unfettered, secure, safe." Thus, the word is strictly equivalent 
to " meat-safe," to which the new Belfry bears a resemblance 
so perfect as almost to amount to coincidence. 

§4. On the chief architectural merit of the new Belfry, 
Ch. Ch. 

Its chief merit is its simplicity — a simplicity so pure, so 
profound, in a word, so simple, that no other word will fitly 
describe it. The meagre outline, and baldness of detail, of the 
present Chapter, are adopted in humble imitation of this great 
feature. 

§5. On the other architectural merits of the new Belfiy, 
Cl'i. Ch. 

The Belfry has no other architectural merits. 

"The Vision of the Three T's " followed. It 
also was an attack on architectural changes in 
Christ Church ; the general style was a parody of 
the " Compleat Angler." Last of all came " The 
Blank Cheque, a Fable," in reference to the 
building of the New Schools, for the expenses of 
which it was actually proposed (in 1874), to sign 
a blank cheque before any estimate had been 
made, or any plan laid before the University, and 
even before a committee had been elected to 
appoint an architect for the work. 



LEWIS CARROLL 165 

At the end of 1874 Mr. Dodgson was again at 
Hatfield, where he told the children the story of 
Prince Uggug, which was afterwards made a part 
of " Sylvie and Bruno," though at that time it 
seems to have been a separate tale. But " Sylvie 
and Bruno," in this respect entirely unlike "Alice 
in Wonderland," was the result of notes taken 
during many years ; for while he was thinking 
out the book he never neglected any amusing 
scraps of childish conversation or funny anecdotes 
about children which came to his notice. It is 
this fact which gives such verisimilitude to the 
prattle of Bruno ; childish talk is a thing which a 
grown-up person cannot possibly invent. He can 
only listen to the actual things the children say, 
and then combine what he has heard into a 
connected narrative. 

During 1875 M^- Dodgson wrote an article 
on " Some Popular Fallacies about Vivisection," 
which was refused by the Pall Mall Gazette, the 
editor saying that he had never heard of most of 
them ; on which Mr. Dodgson plaintively notes in 
his Diary that seven out of the thirteen fallacies 
dealt with in his essay had appeared in the 
columns of the Pall Mall Gazette. Ultimately 
it was accepted by the editor of The Fortnightly 



i66 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Review. Mr. Dodgson had a peculiar horror of 
vivisection, I was once walking in Oxford with 
him when a certain well-known professor passed 
us. " I am afraid that man vivisects," he said, in 
his gravest tone. Every year he used to get a 
friend to recommend him a list of suitable chari- 
ties to which he should subscribe. Once the 
name of some Lost Dogs' Home appeared in 
this list. Before Mr. Dodgson sent his guinea 
he wrote to the secretary to ask whether the 
manaofer of the Home was in the habit of send- 
ing dogs that had to be killed to physiological 
laboratories for vivisection. The answer was in 
the negative, so the institution got the cheque. 
He did not, however, advocate the total abolition 
of vivisection — what reasonable man could ? — but 
he would have liked to see it much more carefully 
restricted by law. An earlier letter of his to the 
Pall Mall Gazette on the same subject is suffici- 
ently characteristic to deserve a place here. Be 
it noted that he signed it " Lewis Carroll," in 
order that whatever influence or power his 
writinofs had g-ained him mig-ht tell in the con- 
troversy. 



LEWIS CARROLL 167 

Vivisection as a Sign of the Times. 

To the Editor of the "Pall Mall Gazette." 

Sir, — The letter which appeared in last week's Spectator, 
and which must have saddened the heart of every one who 
read it, seems to suggest a question which has not yet been 
asked or answered with sufficient clearness, and that is, How 
far may vivisection be regarded as a sign of the times, and a 
fair specimen of that higher civilisation which a purely secular 
State education is to give us ? In that much-vaunted panacea 
for all human ills we are promised not only increase of know- 
ledge, but also a higher moral character ; any momentary doubt 
on this point which we may feel is set at rest at once by 
quoting the great crucial instance of Germany. The syllogism, 
if it deserves the name, is usually stated thus : Germany has a 
higher scientific education than England ; Germany has a lower 
average of crime than England ; ergo, a scientific education 
tends to improve moral conduct. Some old-fashioned logician 
might perhaps whisper to himself, " Praemissis particularibus 
nihil probatur," but such a remark, now that Aldrich is out of 
date, would only excite a pitying smile. May we, then, regard 
the practice of vivisection as a legitimate fruit, or as an ab- 
normal development, of this higher moral character ? Is the 
anatomist, who can contemplate unmoved the agonies he is 
inflicting for no higher purpose than to gratify a scientific 
curiosity, or to illustrate some well-established truth, a being 
higher or lower, in the scale of humanity, than the ignorant 
boor whose very soul would sicken at the horrid sight ? For 
if ever there was an argument in favour of purely scientific 
education more cogent than another, it is surely this (a few 
years back it might have been put into the mouth of any 
advocate of science ; now it reads like the merest mockery) : 
" What can teach the noble quality of mercy, of sensitiveness 
to all forms of suffering, so powerfully as the knowledge of 
what suffering really is ? Can the man who has once reaUsed 



i68 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

by minute study what the nerves are, what the brain is, and 
what waves of agony the one can convey to the other, go forth 
and wantonly inflict pain on any sentient being ? " A little 
while ago we should have confidently replied, " He cannot do 
it " ; in the light of modern revelations we must sorrowfully 
confess " He can." And let it never be said that this is done 
with serious forethought of the balance of pain and gain ; that 
the operator has pleaded with himself, " Pain is indeed an evil, 
but so much suffering may fitly be endured to purchase so 
much knowledge." When I hear of one of these ardent 
searchers after truth giving, not a helpless dumb animal, to 
whom he says in effect, " You shall suffer that / may know," 
but his own person to the probe and to the scalpel, I will 
believe in him as recognising a principle of justice, and I will 
honour him as acting up to his principles. " But the thing 
cannot be ! " cries some amiable reader, fresh from an interview 
with that most charming of men, a London physician. " What ! 
Is it possible that one so gentle in manner, so full of noble 
sentiments, can be hardhearted ? The very idea is an outrage 
to common sense ! " And thus we are duped every day of our 
lives. Is it possible that that bank director, with his broad 
honest face, can be meditating a fraud ? That the chairman 
of that meeting of shareholders, whose every tone has the ring 
of truth in it, can hold in his hand a " cooked " schedule of 
accounts? That my wine merchant, so outspoken, so con- 
fiding, can be supplying me with an adulterated article ? That 
the schoolmaster, to whom I have entrusted my little boy, can 
starve or neglect him ? How well I remember his words to 
the dear child when last we parted. " You are leaving your 
friends," he said, " but you will have a father in me, my dear, 
and a mother in Mrs. Squeers ! " For all such rose-coloured 
dreams of the necessary immunity from human vices of 
educated men the facts in last week's Spectator have a terrible 
significance. "Trust no man further than you can see him," 
they seem to say. " Qui vult decipi, decipiatur." 



LEWIS CARROLL 169 

Allow me to quote from a modern writer a few sentences 
bearing on this subject : — 

" W'e are at present, legislature and nation together, eagerly 
pushing forward schemes which proceed on the postulate that 
conduct is determined, not by feelings, but by cognitions. 
For what else is the assumption underlying this anxious 
urging-on of organisations for teaching ? What is the root- 
notion common to Secularists and Denominationalists but the 
notion that spread of knowledge is the one thing needful for 
bettering behaviour ? Having both swallowed certain statis- 
tical fallacies, there has grown up in them the belief that 
State education will check ill-doing. . . . This belief in the 
moralising effects of intellectual culture, flatly contradicted by 
facts, is absurd a priori. . . . This faith in lesson-books and 
readings is one of the superstitions of the age. . . . Not by 
precept, though heard daily ; not by example, unless it is 
followed ; but only by action, often caused by the related 
feeling, can a moral habit be formed. And yet this truth, 
which mental science clearly teaches, and which is in harmony 
with familiar sayings, is a truth wholly ignored in current 
educational fanaticisms." 

There need no praises of mine to commend to the con- 
sideration of all thoughtful readers these words of Herbert 
Spencer. They are to be found in " The Study of Sociology " 
(pp. 361-367). 

Let us, however, do justice to science. It is not so wholly 
wanting as Mr. Herbert Spencer would have us believe in 
principles of action — principles by which we may regulate our 
conduct in life. I myself once heard an accomplished man of 
science declare that his labours had taught him one special 
personal lesson which, above all others, he had laid to heart. 
A minute study of the nervous system, and of the various 
forms of pain produced by wounds had inspired in him one 
profound resolution; and that was — what think you? — never, 
under any circumstances, to adventure his own person into the 



lyo THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

field of battle ! I have somewhere read in a book — a rather 
antiquated book, I fear, and one much discredited by modern 
lights — the words, " the whole creation groanethand travaileth 
in pain together until now." Truly we read these words with a 
new meaning in the present day I " Groan and travail " it 
undoubtedly does still (more than ever, so far as the brute 
creation is concerned ) ; but to what end ? Some higher and 
more glorious state ? So one might have said a few years 
back. Not so in these days. The riXog tiXhov of secular 
education, when divorced from religious or moral training, is — 
I say it deliberately — the purest and most unmitigated selfish- 
ness. The world has seen and tired of the worship of Nature, 
of Reason, of Humanity ; for this nineteenth century has been 
reserved the development of the most refined religion of all — 
the worship of Self. For that, indeed, is the upshot of it all. 
The enslavement of his weaker brethren — " the labour of 
those who do not enjoy, for the enjoyment of those who do 
not labour " — the degradation of woman — the torture of the 
animal world — these are the steps of the ladder by which man 
is ascending to his higher civilisation. Selfishness is the key- 
note of all purely secular education ; and I take vivisection to 
be a glaring, a wholly unmistakable case in point. And let it 
not be thought that this is an evil that we can hope to see 
produce the good for which we are asked to tolerate it, and 
then pass away. It is one that tends continually to spread. 
And if it be tolerated or even ignored now, the age of 
universal education, when the sciences, and anatomy among 
them, shall be the heritage of all, will be heralded by a cry of 
anguish from the brute creation that will ring through the 
length and breadth of the land ! This, then, is the glorious 
future to which the advocate of secular education may look 
forward : the dawn that gilds the horizon of his hopes ! An 
age when all forms of religious thought shall be things of the 
past ; when chemistry and biology shall be the ABC of a 
State education enforced on all ; when vivisection shall be 



LEWIS CARROLL 171 

practised in every college and school ; and when the man of 
science, looking forth over a world which will then own no 
other sway than his, shall exult in the thought that he has 
made of this fair green earth, if not a heaven for man, at least 
a hell for animals. 

I am, sir. 

Your obedient servant, 
February loth. Lewis Carroll. 

On March 29, 1876, "The Hunting of the 
Snark" was published. Mr. Dodgson gives some 
interesting particulars of its evolution. The first 
idea for the poem was the line " For the Snark 
was a Boojum, you see," which came into his 
mind, apparently without any cause, while he was 
taking a country walk. The first complete verse 
which he composed was the one which stands 
last in the poem:— 

In the midst of the word he was trying to say, 

In the midst of his laughter and glee. 
He had softly and suddenly vanished away — 

For the Snark was a Boojum, you see. 

The illustrations were the work of Mr. Henry 
Holiday, and they are thoroughly in keeping 
with the spirit of the poem. Many people have 
tried to show that " The Hunting of the Snark " 
was an allegory ; some regarding it as being a 
burlesque upon the Tichborne case, and others 




HENRY HOLIDAY IN HIS STUDIO. 

(From a photograph.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 173 

taking the Snark as a personification of popu- 
larity. Lewis Carroll always protested that the 
poem had no meaning at all. 

As to the meaning of the Snark [he wrote to a friend in 
America], I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but 
nonsense ! Still, you know, words mean more than we mean 
to express when we use them ; so a whole book ought to 
mean a great deal more than the writer means. So, whatever 
good meanings are in the book, I'm glad to accept as the 
meaning of the book. The best that I've seen is by a 
lady (she published it in a letter to a newspaper), that the 
whole book is an allegory on the search after happiness. I 
think this fits in beautifully in many ways — particularly about 
the bathing-machines : when the people get weary of life, and 
can't find happiness in towns or in books, then they rush off 
to the seaside, to see what bathing-machines will do for them. 

Mr. H, Holiday, in a very interesting article on 
"The Snark's Significance" [Acaderny, January 
29, 1898), quoted the inscription which Mr. 
Dodgson had written in a vellum-bound, pre- 
sentation-copy of the book. It is so charac- 
teristic that I take the liberty of reproducing it 
here : — 

Presented to Henry Holiday, most patient of artists, by 
Charles L. Dodgson, most exacting, but not most ungrateful 
of authors, March 29, 1876. 

A little orirl, to whom Mr. Dodgson had ^iven 



174 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

a copy of the " Snark," managed to get the whole 
poem off by heart, and insisted on reciting it 
from beginning to end during a long carriage- 
drive. Her friends, who, from the nature of the 
case, were unable to escape, no doubt wished that 
she, too, was a Boojum. 

During the year, the first public dramatic repre- 
sentation of "Alice in Wonderland" was griven 
at the Polytechnic, the entertainment taking the 
form of a series of tableaux, interspersed with 
appropriate readings and songs. Mr. Dodgson 
exercised a rigid censorship over all the ex- 
traneous matter introduced into the perform- 
ance, and put his veto upon a verse in one of the 
songs, in which the drowning of kittens was 
treated from the humorous point of view, lest 
the children in the audience might learn to think 
lightly of death in the case of the lower animals. 




LEWIS CARROLL. 
(From n pliotogniph.) 



CHAPTER V 

(1877-1883) 

Dramatic tastes — Miss Ellen Terry — "Natural Science at 
Oxford "—Mr. Dodgson as an artist — Miss E. G. Thom- 
son — The drawing of children — A curious dream — " The 
Deserted Parks " — " Syzygies " — Circus children — Row- 
loving undergraduates — A letter to The Observer —'R.esxg- 
nation of the Lectureship — He is elected Curator of the 
Common Room — Dream-music. 



M 



R. DODGSON'S love of the drama was 
not, as I have shown, a taste which he 
acquired in later years. From early 
college days he never missed anything which he 
considered worth seeing at the London theatres. 
I believe he used to reproach himself — unfairly, 
I think — with spending too much time on such 
recreations. For a man who worked so hard 
and so incessantly as he did ; for a man to 
whom vacations meant rather a variation of 
mental employment than absolute rest of mind, 



178 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the drama afforded jast the sort of relief that was 
wanted. His vivid imagination, the very earnest- 
ness and intensity of his character enabled him 
to throw himself utterly into the spirit of what he 
saw upon the stage, and to forget in it all the 
petty worries and disappointments of life. The 
old adage says that a man cannot burn the candle 
at both ends ; like most proverbs, it is only par- 
tially true, for often the hardest worker is the 
man who enters with most zest into his recrea- 
tions, and this was emphatically the case with 
Mr. Dodgson. 

Walter Pater, in his book on the Renaissance, 
says (I quote from rough notes only), "A counted 
number of pulses only is given to us of a varie- 
gated dramatic life. How may we see in them 
all that is to be seen in them by the finest senses ? 
How shall we pass most swiftly from point to 
point, and be present always at the focus where 
the Pfreatest number of vital forces unite in their 
purest energy ? To burn always with this hard 
gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success 
in life." Here we have the truer philosophy, 
here we have the secret of Lewis Carroll's life. 
He never wasted time on social formalities ; he 
refused to fulfil any of those (so called) duties 



LEWIS CARROLL 179 

which involve ineffable boredom, and so his mind 
was always fresh and ready. He said in one of 
his letters that he hoped that in the next world 
all knowledge would not be given to us suddenly, 
but that we should gradually grow wiser, for the 
acquiring knowledge was to him the real pleasure. 
What is this but a paraphrase of another of Pater's 
thoughts, " Not the fruit of experience, but ex- 
perience itself is the end." 

And so, times without number, he allowed him- 
self to be carried away by emotion as he saw life 
in the mirror of the stage ; but, best of all, he 
loved to see the acting of children, and he gene- 
rally gave copies of his books to any of the little 
performers who specially pleased him. On January 
13, 1877, he wrote in his Diary : — ■ 

Went up to town for the day, and took E with me 

to the afternoon pantomime at the Adelphi, " Goody Two- 
Shoes," acted entirely by children. It was a really charming 
performance. Little Bertie Coote, aged ten, was clown— a 
wonderfully clever little fellow ; and Carrie Coote, about eight, 
was Columbine, a very pretty graceful little thing. In a few 
years' time she will be just the child to act "Alice," if it is 
ever dramatised. The harleqi^in was a little girl named Gil- 
christ, one of the most beautiful children, in face and figure, 
that I have ever seen. I must get an opportunity of photo- 
graphing her. Little Bertie Coote, singing " Hot Codlings," 
was curiously like the pictures of Grimaldi. 



i8o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

It need hardly be said that the Httle girl was 
Miss Constance Gilchrist. Mr. Dodo^son sent 
her a copy of " Alice in Wonderland," with a set 
of verses on her name. 

Many people object altogether to children 
appearing on the stage ; it is said to be bad for 
their morals as well as for their health. A letter 
which Mr. Dodgson once wrote in the SL 
James s Gazette contains a sufficient refutation 
of the latter fancy : — 

I spent yesterday afternoon at Brighton, where for five 
hours I enjoyed the society of three exceedingly iiappy and 
healthy little girls, aged twelve, ten, and seven. I think that 
any one who could have seen the vigour of life in those three 
children — the intensity with which they enjoyed everything, 
great or small, that came in their way — who could have 
watched the younger two running races on the Pier, or have 
heard the fervent exclamation of the eldest at the end of the 
afternoon, "We have enjoyed ourselves ! " would have agreed 
with me that here, at least, there was no excessive "physical 
strain," nor any imminent danger of " fatal results " ! A drama, 
written by Mr. Savile Clarke, is now being played at Brighton, 
and in this (it is called " Alice in Wonderland ") all three chil- 
dren have been engaged. They had been acting every night 
this week, and twice on the day before I met them, the second 
performance lasting till half-past ten at night, after which they 
got up at seven next morning to bathe ! That such (appa- 
rently) severe work should co-exist with blooming health and 
buoyant spirits seems at first sight a paradox ; but I appeal to 
any one who has ever worked con amove at any subject what- 



LEWIS CARROLL i8i 

ever to support me in the assertion that, when you really love 
the subject you are working at, the " physical strain " is abso- 
lutely //// ; it is only when working " against the grain " that 
any strain is felt, and I believe the apparent paradox is to be 
explained by the fact that a taste for acting is one of the 
strongest passions of human nature, that stage-children show it 
nearly from infancy, and that, instead of being miserable 
drudges who ought to be celebrated in a new " Cry of the 
Children," they simply rejoice in their work " even as a giant 
rejoiceth to run his course." 

Mr. Dodgson's general views on the mission of 
the drama are well shown by an extract from a 
circular which he sent to many of his friends in 
1882 :— 

The stage (as every playgoer can testify) is an engine of 
incalculable power for influencing society ; and every effort to 
purify and ennoble its aims seems to me to deserve all the 
countenance that the great, and all the material help that the 
wealthy, can give it ; while even those who are neither great 
nor wealthy may yet do their part, and help to — 

" Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be." 

I do not know if Mr. Dodgson's suggested 
amendment of some lines in the "Merchant of 
Venice " was ever carried out, but it further 
illustrates the serious view he took of this 
subject. The hint occurs in a letter to Miss 
Ellen Terry, which runs as follows : — 



l82 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



You gave me a treat on Saturday such as I have very seldom 
had in my life. You must be weary by this time of hearing 
your own praises, so I will only say that Portia was all I could 




ELLEN TERRY. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 

have imagined, and more. And Shylock is superb — especially 
in the trial-scene. 

Now I am going to be very bold, and make a suggestion, 
which I do hope you will think well enough of to lay it before 
Mr. Irving. I want to see that clause omitted (in the 
sentence on Shylock) — 



LEWIS CARROLL 183 

That, for this favour, 
He presently become a Christian ; 

It is a sentiment that is entirely horrible and revolting to 
the feelings of all who believe in the Gospel of Love. Why 
should our ears be shocked by such words merely because 
they are Shakespeare's ? In his day, when it was held to be 
a Christian's duty to force his belief on others by fire and 
sword — to burn man's body in order to save his soul — the 
words probably conveyed no shock. To all Christians now 
(except perhaps extreme Calvinists) the idea of forcing a man 
to abjure his religion, whatever that religion may be, is (as I 
have said) simply horrible. 

I have spoken of it as a needless outrage on religious 
feeling : but surely, being so, it is a great artistic mistake. 
Its tendency is directly contrary to the spirit of the scene. 
We have despised Shylock for his avarice, and we rejoice to 
see him lose his wealth : we have abhorred him for his blood- 
thirsty cruelty, and we rejoice to see him baffled. And now, 
in the very fulness of our joy at the triumph of right over 
wrong, we are suddenly called on to see in him the victim of 
a cruelty a thousand times worse than his own, and to honour 
him as a martyr. This, I am sure, Shakespeare never meant. 
Two touches only of sympathy does he allow us, that we may 
realise him as a man, and not as a demon incarnate. " I will 
not pray with you " ; "I had it of Leah, when I was a 
bachelor." But I am sure he never meant our sympathies to 
be roused in the supreme moment of his downfall, and, if he 
were alive now, I believe he would cut out those lines about 
becoming a Christian. 

No interpolation is needed — (I should not like to suggest 
the putting in a single word that is not Shakespeare's) — I 
would read the speech thus : — 

That lately stole his daughter : 
Provided that he do record a gift, 
Here in the court, &c. 



184 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

And I would omit Gratiano's three lines at Shylock's exit, and 
let the text stand : — 

Duke. "Get thee gone, but do it." {Exit Shy lock.') 

The exit, in solemn silence, would be, if possible, even 
grander than it now is, and would lose nothing by the omission 
of Gratiano's flippant jest. . . . 

On January i6th he saw " New Men and Old 
Acres " at the Court Theatre, The two authors 
of the pieces, Dubourg and Tom Taylor, were 
great friends of his. "It was a real treat," he 
writes, " being well acted in every detail. Ellen 
Terry was wonderful, and I should think unsur- 
passable in all but the lighter parts." Mr. Dodgson 
himself had a strong wish to become a dramatic 
author, but, after one or two unsuccessful attempts 
to get his plays produced, he wisely gave up the 
idea, realising that he had not the necessary 
constructive powers. The above reference to 
Miss Ellen Terry's acting is only one out of a 
countless number ; the great actress and he were 
excellent friends, and she did him many a kind- 
ness in helping on young friends of his who had 
taken up the stage as a profession. 

She and her sister, Miss Kate Terry, were 
among the distinguished people whom he photo- 




TOM TAYLOR. 

(From a photogmph by Lewis Carroll.) 



i86 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

graphed. The first time he saw the latter actress 
was, I think, in 1858, when she was playing in 
" The Tempest " at the Princess's. " The gem of 




KATE TERRY. 

(From a photogniph by Lewis Carroll.) 



the piece," he writes, "was the exquisitely grace- 
ful and beautiful Ariel, Miss Kate Terry. Her 
appearance as a sea-nymph was one of the most 



LEWIS CARROLL 187 

beautiful living pictures I ever saw, but this, and 
every other one in my recollection (except Queen 
Katherine's dream), were all outdone by the con- 
cluding scene, where Ariel is left alone, hovering 
over the wide ocean, watching the retreating ship. 
It is an innovation on Shakespeare, but a worthy 
one, and the conception of a true poet." 

Mr. Dodgson was a frequent contributor to the 
daily Press. As a rule his letters appeared in the 
Sf. James's Gazette, for the editor, Mr. Greenwood, 
was a friend of his, but the following sarcastic 
epistle was an exception : — 

Natural Science at Oxford. 

To the Editor of the " Pall Mall Gazette." 

Sir, — There is no one of the many ingenious appliances of 
mechanical science that is more appreciated or more success- 
fully employed than the wedge ; so subtle and imperceptible 
are the forces needed for the insertion of its " thin end," so 
astounding the results which its " thick end " may ultimately 
produce. Of the former process we shall see a beautiful 
illustration in a Congregation to be holden at Oxford on the 
24th inst., when it will be proposed to grant, to those who 
have taken the degrees of bachelor and master in Natural 
Science only, the same voting powers as in Ihe case of the 
" M.A." degree. This means the omission of one of the 
two classical languages, Latin and Greek, from what has been 
hitherto understood as the curriculum of an Oxford education. 
It is to this "thin end" of the wedge that I would call the 



1 88 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

attention of our non-residents, and of all interested in Oxford 
education, while the " thick end " is still looming in the 
distance. But why fear a " thick end " at all ? I shall be 
asked. Has Natural Science shown any such tendency, or 
given any reason to fear that such a concession would lead to 
further demands ? In answer to that question, let me sketch, 
in dramatic fashion, the history of her recent career in Oxford. 
In the dark ages of our University (some five-and-twenty years 
ago), while we still believed in classics and mathematics as 
constituting a liberal education. Natural Science sat weeping at 
our gates. "Ah, let me in!" she moaned; "why cram 
reluctant youth with your unsatisfying lore? Are they not 
hungering for bones; yea, panting for sulphuretted hydrogen?" 
We heard and we pitied. We let her in and housed her 
royally ; we adorned her palace with re-agents and retorts, and 
made it a very charnel-house of bones, and we cried to our 
undergraduates, " The feast of Science is spread ! Eat, drink, 
and be happy ! " But they would not. They fingered the 
bones, and thought them dry. They sniffed at the hydrogen, 
and turned away. Yet for all that Science ceased not to cry, 
" More gold> more gold ! " And her three fair daughters, 
Chemistry, Biology, and Physics (for the modern horse-leech 
is more prolific than in the days of Solomon), ceased not to 
plead, " Give, give ! " And we gave ; we poured forth our 
wealth like water (I beg her pardon, like H,0), and we could 
not help thinking there was something weird and uncanny in 
the ghoul-like facility with which she absorbed it. 

The curtain rises on the second act of the drama. Science 
is still weeping, but this time it is for lack of pupils, not 
of teachers or machinery. " We are unfairly handicapped ! " 
she cries. " You have prizes and scholarships for classics and 
mathematics, and you bribe your best students to desert us. 
Buy us some bright, clever boys to teach, and then see what 
we can do ! " Once more we heard and pitied. We had 
bought her bones ; we bought her boys. And now at last her 



LEWIS CARROLL 189 

halls were filled — not only with teachers paid to teach, but also 
with learners paid to learn. And we have not much to com- 
plain of in results, except that perhaps she is a little too ready 
to return on our hands all but the "honour-men" — all, in fact, 
who really need the helping hand of an educator. " Here, 
take back your stupid ones ! " she cries. " Except as subjects 
for the scalpel (and we have not yet got the Human Vivisection 
Act through Parliament) we can do nothing with them ! " 

The third act of the drama is yet under rehearsal ; the actors 
are still running in and out of the green-room, and hastily 
shuffling on their new and ill-fitting dresses ; but its general 
scope is not far to seek. At no distant day our once timid and 
tearful guest will be turning up her nose at the fare provided 
for her. " Give me no more youths to teach," she will say ; 
"but pay me handsomely, and let me think. Plato and 
Aristotle were all very well in their way ; Diogenes and his tub 
for me ! " The allusion is not inappropriate. There can be 
little doubt that some of the researches conducted by that 
retiring philosopher in the recesses of that humble edifice were 
strictly scientific, embracing several distinct branches of ento- 
mology. I do not mean, of course, that " research " is a new 
idea in Oxford. From time immemorial we have had our own 
chosen band of researchers (here called " professors "), who have 
advanced the boundaries of human knowledge in many direc- 
tions. True, they are not left so wholly to themselves as some 
of these modern thinkers would wish to be, but are expected to 
give some few lectures, as the outcome of their " research " and 
the evidence of its reality, but even that condition has not 
always been enforced — for instance, in the case of the late 
Professor of Greek, Dr. Gaisford, the University was too con- 
scious of the really valuable work he was doing in philological 
research to complain that he ignored the usual duties of the 
chair and delivered no lectures. 

And, now, what is the " thick end " of the wedge ? It is 
that Latin and Greek may both vanish from our curriculum ; 



190 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

that logic, philosophy, and history may follow ; and that the 
destinies of Oxford may some day be in the hands of those who 
have had no education other than "scientific." And why not? 
I shall be asked. Is it not as high a form of education as any 
other? That is a matter to be settled by facts. I can but 
offer my own little item of evidence, and leave it to others to 
confirm or to refute. It used once to be thought indispensable 
for an educated man that he should be able to w^rite his own 
language correctly, if not elegantly ; it seems doubtful how 
much longer this will be taken as a criterion. Not so many 
years ago I had the honour of assisting in correcting for the 
press some pages of the Anthropological Review, or some such 
periodical. I doubt not that the writers were eminent men in 
their own line; that each could triumphantly prove, to his own 
satisfaction, the unsoundness of what the others had advanced; 
and that all would unite in declaring that the theories of a year 
ago were entirely exploded by the latest German treatise ; but 
they were not able to set forth these thoughts, however con- 
soling in themselves, in anything resembling the language of 
educated society. In all my experience, I have never read, 
even in the " local news " of a country paper, such slipshod, 
such deplorable English. 

I shall be told that I am ungenerous in thus picking out 
a few unfavourable cases, and that some of the greatest minds 
of the day are to be found in the ranks of science. I freely 
admit that such may be found, but my contention is that they 
made the science, not the science them ; and that in any line 
of thought they would have been equally distinguished. As a 
general principle, I do not think that the exclusive study of any 
one subject is really education ; and my experience as a 
teacher has shown me that even a considerable proficiency in 
Natural Science, taken alone, is so far from proving a high 
degree of cultivation and great natural ability that it is fully 
compatible with general ignorance and an intellect quite below 
par. Therefore it is that I seek to rouse an interest, beyond 



LEWIS CARROLL 191 

the limits of Oxford, in preserving classics as an essential 
feature of a University education. Nor is it as a classical tutor 
(who might be suspected of a bias in favour of his own subject) 
that I write this. On the contrary, it is as one who has taught 
science here for more than twenty years (for mathematics, 
though good-humouredly scorned by the biologists on account 
of the abnormal certainty of its conclusions, is still reckoned 
among the sciences) that I beg to sign myself, — Your obedient 
servant, 

Charles L. Dodgson, 
Mathematical Lecturer of Christ Church, Oxford. 
May lyth. 

I give the above letter because I think it 
amusing ; it must not be supposed that the 
writer's views on the subject remained the same 
all through his life. He was a thorough Conser- 
vative, and it took a long time to reconcile him 
to any new departure. In a political discussion 
with a friend he once said that he was " first an 
Englishman, and then a Conservative," but how- 
ever much a man may try to put patriotism before 
party, the result will be but partially successful, 
if patriotism would lead him into opposition to 
the mental bias which has originally made him 
either a Conservative or a Radical. 

He took, of course, great pleasure in the 
success of his books, as every author must ; but 
the greatest pleasure of all to him was to know 



192 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

that they had pleased others. Notes Hke the 
following are frequent in his Diary: ''June 2^ih. 
— Spent the afternoon in sending off seventy 
circulars to Hospitals, offering copies of 'Alice' 
and the ' Looking-Glass ' for sick children." He 
well deserved the name which one of his admirers 
gave him — " The man who loved little children." 

In April, 1878, he saw a performance of 
" Olivia " at the Court Theatre. "The gem of 
the piece is Olivia herself, acted by Ellen Terry 
with a sweetness and pathos that moved some 
of the audience (nearly including myself) to tears. 
Her leave-taking was exquisite; and when, in her 
exile, she hears that her little brother had cried at 
the mention of her name, her exclamation ' Pet ! ' 
was tenderness itself Altogether, I have not had 
a greater dramatic treat for a long time. Dies 
cretd notandiLsy 

I see that I have marked for quotation the 
following brief entries in the Diary : — 

Aug. 4th [at Eastbourne]. — "Went, morning and evening, to 
the new chapel-of-ease belonging to S. Saviour's. It has the 
immense advantage of not being crowded ; but this scarcely '„ I 
compensates for the vile Gregorian chants, which vex and 
weary one's ear. 

Aug. ijth. — A very inquisitive person, who had some children 
with her, found out my name, and then asked me to shake 



LEWIS CARROLL 193 

hands with her child, as an admirer of my books : this I did, 
unwisely perhaps, as I have no intention of continuing the 
accfuaintance of a " Mrs. Leo Hunter." 

Dec. 22,rd. — I have been making a plan for work next term, 
of this kind : Choose a subject {e.g., " Circulation," " Journeys 
of S. Paul," " English Counties ") for each week. On Monday 
write what I know about it ; during week get up subject ; on 
Saturday write again ; put the two papers away, and six months 
afterwards write again and compare. 

As an artist, Mr. Dodgson possessed an intense 
natural appreciation of the beautiful, an abhor- 
rence of all that is coarse and unseemly which 
might almost be called hyper-refinement, a 
wonderfully good eye for form, and last, but 
not least, the most scrupulous conscientiousness 
about detail. On the other hand his sense of 
colour was somewhat imperfect, and his hand 
was almost totally untrained, so that while he 
had all the enthusiasm of the true artist, his 
work always had the defects of an amateur. 

In 1878 some drawings of Miss E. Gertrude 
Thomson's excited his keen admiration, and he 
exerted himself to make her acquaintance. Their 
first meeting is described so well by Miss Thomson 
herself in The Gentlewoman for January 29, 1898, 
that I cannot do better than quote the description 
of the scene as given there : — 



194 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



It was at the end of December, 1878, that a letter, written 
in a singularly legible and rather boyish-looking hand, came to 
me from Christ Church, Oxford, signed " C. L. Dodgson." 
The writer said that he had come across some fairy designs of 
mine, and he should like to see some more of my work. By 




Miss E. GERTRUDE THOMSON. 

the same post came a letter from my London publisher (wh 
had supplied my address) telling me that the " Rev. C. L, 
Dodgson " was " Lewis Carroll." 

" Alice in Wonderland " had long been one of my pet books, 
and as one regards a favourite author as almost a personal 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 



195 



friend, I felt less restraint than one usually feels in writing to a 
stranger, though I carefully concealed my knowledge of his 
identity, as he had not chosen to reveal it. 

This was the beginning of a frequent and delightful corre- 
spondence, and as I confessed to a great love for fairy lore of 
every description, he asked me if I would accept a child's 
fairy-tale book he had written, called " Alice in Wonderland." 
I replied that I knew it nearly all off by heart, but that I 
should greatly prize a copy given to me by himself. By return 
came " Alice," and " Through the Looking-Glass," bound most 
luxuriously in white calf and gold. 

And this is the graceful and kindly note that came with 
them : " I am now sending you ' Alice,' and the ' Looking- 
Glass ' as well. There is an incompleteness about giving only 
one, and besides, the one you bought was probably in red and 
would not match these. If you are at all in doubt as to what 
to do with the (now) superfluous copy, let me suggest your 
giving it to some poor sick child. I have been distributing 
copies to all the hospitals and convalescent homes I can hear 
of, where there are sick children capable of reading them, and 
though, of course, one takes some pleasure in the popularity 
of the books elsewhere, it is not nearly so pleasant a thought 
to me as that they may be a comfort and relief to children in 
hours of pain and weariness. Still, no recipient can be more 
appropriate than one who seems to have been in fairyland 
herself, and to have seen, like the ' weary mariners ' of 
old — 

" Between the green brink and the running foam 
White limbs unrobM in a crystal air, 
Sweet faces, rounded arms, and bosoms prest 
To little harps of gold." 

" Do you ever come to London ? " he asked in another letter; 
" if so, will you allow mc to call upon you ? " 

Early in the summer I came up to study, and I sent him 



196 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

word that I was in town. One night, coming into my room, 
after a long day spent at the British Museum, in the half- 
light I saw a card lying on the table. " Rev. C. L. Dodgson." 
Bitter, indeed, was my disappointment at having missed him, 
but just as I was laying it sadly down I spied a small t.o. 
in the corner. On the back I read that he couldn't get up to 
my rooms early or late enough to find me, so would I arrange 
to meet him at some museum or gallery the day but one 
following? I fixed on South Kensington Museum, by the 
"Schliemann" collection, at twelve o'clock. 

A little before twelve I was at the rendezvous, and then 
the humour of the situation suddenly struck me, that / had 
not the ghost of an idea what he was like, nor would he have 
any better chance of discovering me I The room was fairly 
full of all sorts and conditions, as usual, and I glanced at each 
masculine figure in turn, only to reject it as a possibility of 
the one I sought. Just as the big clock had clanged out 
twelve, I heard the high vivacious voices and laughter of 
children sounding down the corridor. 

At that moment a gentleman entered, two little girls cling- 
ing to his hands, and as I caught sight of the tall slim figure, 
with the clean-shaven, delicate, refined face, I said to myself, 
" Thai's Lewis Carroll." He stood for a moment, head erect, 
glancing swiftly over the room, then, bending down, whispered 
something to one of the children ; she, after a moment's pause, 
pointed straight at me. 

Dropping their hands he came forward, and with that 
winning smile of his that utterly banished the oppressive sense 
of the Oxford don, said simply, " I am Mr. Dodgson ; I was! 
to meet you, I think ? " To which I as frankly smiled, and| 
said, " How did you know me so soon ? " 

" My little friend found you. I told her I had come tc 
meet a young lady who knew fairies, and she fixed on you at 
once. But / knew you before she spoke." 



LEWIS CARROLL 197 

This acquaintance ripened into a true, artistic 
friendship, which lasted till Mr. Dodgson's death. 
In his first letter to Miss Thomson he speaks of 
himself as one who for twenty years had found 
his one amusement in photographing from life 
— especially photographing children ; he also said 
that he had made attempts ("most unsuccess- 
fully ") at drawing them. When he got to know 
her more intimately, he asked her to criticise his 
work, and when she wrote expressing her willing- 
ness to do so, he sent her a pile of sketch-books, 
through which she went most carefully, marking 
the mistakes, and criticisinsf, wherever criticism 
seemed to be necessary. 

After this he might often have been seen in her 
studio, lying flat on his face, and drawing some 
child-model who had been engaged for his especial 
benefit. " I /ofe the effort to draw," he wrote in 
one of his letters to her, " but I utterly fail to 
please even my own eye — tho' now and then I 
seem to get somewhere 7iea7^ a right line or two, 
when I have a live child to draw from. But I 
have no time left now for such thino-s. In the 
next life, I do /io/>e we shall not only see lovely 
forms, such as this world does not contain, but 
also be able to d7^azv them." 



198 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

But while he fully recognised the limits of his 
powers, he had great faith in his own critical 
judgment ; and with good reason, for his perception 
of the beautiful in contour and attitude and 
grouping was almost unerring. All the drawings 
which Miss Thomson made for his " Three 
Sunsets " were submitted to his criticism, which 
descended to the smallest details. He concludes 
a letter to her, which contained the most elaborate 
and minute suggestions for the improvement of 
one of these pictures, with the following words : 
" I make all these suggestions with diffidence, 
feelJ"o- that I have really no right at all, as an 
amateur, to criticise the work of a real artist." 

The following" extract from another letter to 
Miss Thomson shows that seeking after perfection, 
that discontent with everything short of the best, 
which was so marked a feature of his character, j. 
She had sent him two drawings of the head off 
some child-friend of his : — 

i 

Your note is a puzzle — you say that " No. 2 would have beeni 
still more like if the paper had been exactly the same shade — -t 
but I'd no more at hand of the darker colour." Had I given 
you the impression that I was in a hurry, and was willing to 
have No. 2 less good than it might be made, so long as I could 
have it quick f If I did, I'm very sorry : I never meant to say 
a word like it: and, if you had written "I could make it still 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 199 

more like, on darker paper ; but I've no more at hand. How 
long can you wait for me to get some ? " I should have replied, 
" Six weeks, or six months, if you prefer it ! " 

I have already spoken of his love of nature, as 
opposed to the admiration for the morbid and 
abnormal. " I want you," he writes to Miss 
Thomson, "to do my fairy drawings from Z//^. 
They would be very pretty, no doubt, done out 
of your own head, but they will be ten times as 
valuable if done from life. Mr. Furniss drew the 
pictures of ' Sylvie ' from life. Mr. Tenniel is 
the only artist, who has drawn for me, who reso- 
lutely, refused to use a model, and declared he no 
more needed one than I should need a ultipli- 
cation-table to work a mathematical problem ! " 
On another occasion he urges the importance of 
using models, in order to avoid the similarity of 
features which would otherwise spoil the pictures : 
" Cruikshank's splendid illustrations were terribly 
spoiled by his having only 07ie pretty female face 
in them all. Leech settled down into huo female 
faces. Du Maurier, I think, has only 07ie, now. 
All the ladies, and all the little girls in his pictures 
look like twin sisters." 

It is interestinor to know that Sir Noel Paton 
and Mr. Walter Crane were, in Lewis Carroll's 



200 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

opinion, the most successful drawers of children : 
" There are but few artists who seem to draw the 
forms of children con ainore. Walter Crane is 
perhaps the best (always excepting Sir Noel 
Paton) : but the thick outlines, which he insists on 
using, seem to take off a good deal from the 
beauty of the result." 

He held that no artist can hope to effect a 
higher type of beauty than that which life itself 
exhibits, as the following words show : — 

I don't quite understand about fairies losing "grace," if too 
like human children. Of course I grant that to be like some 
actual child is to lose grace, because no living child is perfect 
in form : many causes have lowered the race from what God 
made it. But the perfect human form, free from these faults, 
is surely equally applicable to men, and fairies, and angels ? 
Perhaps that is what you mean — that the Artist can imagine, 
and design, more perfect forms than we ever find in life ? 

I have already referred several times to Miss 
Ellen Terry as having been one of Mr. Dodgson's 
friends, but he was intimate with the whole family, 
and used often to pay them a visit when he was 
in town. On May 15, 1879, he records a very 
curious dream which he had about Miss Marion 
("Polly") Terry:— 

Last night I had a dream which I record as a curiosity, so 



LEWIS CARROLL 20 r 

far as I know, in the literature of dreams. I was staying, with 
my sisters, in some suburb of London, and had heard that the 
Terrys were staying near us, so went to call, and found Mrs. 
Terry at home, who told us that Marion and Florence were 
at the theatre, "the Walter House," where they had a good 
engagement. " In that case," I said, " I'll go on there at 
once, and see the performance — and may I take Polly with 
me?" " Certainly," said Mrs. Terry. And there was Polly, 
the child, seated in the room, and looking about nine or ten 
years old : and I was distinctly conscious of the fact, yet with- 
out any feeling of surprise at its incongruity, that I was going 
to take the child Polly with me to the theatre, to see the 
groivn-up Polly act ! Both pictures — Polly as a child, and 
Polly as a woman, are, I suppose, equally clear in my ordinary 
waking memory : and it seems that in sleep I had contrived to 
give the two pictures separate individualities. 

Of all the mathematical books which Mr. 
Dodgson wrote, by far the most elaborate, if not 
the most original, was " Euclid and His Modern 
Rivals." The first edition was issued in 1879, 
and a supplement, afterwards incorporated into 
the second edition, appeared in 1885. 

This book, as the author says, has for its object 

to furnish evidence (i) that it is essential for the purposes of 
teaching or examining in Elementary Geometry to employ one 
text-book only ; (2) that there are strong a priori reasons for 
retaining in all its main features, and especially in its sequence 
and numbering of Propositions, and in its treatment of Parallels, 
the Manual of Euclid ; and (3) that no sufficient reasons have 
yet been shown for abandoning it in favour of any one of the 
modern Manuals which have been offered as substitutes. 



202 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The book is written in dramatic form, and 
relieved throughout by many touches in the 
author's happiest vein, which make it dehghtful 
not only to the scientific reader, but also to any one 
of averaofe intellisfence with the slig-htest sense of 
humour. 

Whether the conclusions are accepted in their 
entirety or not, it Is certain that the arguments 
are far more effective than if the writer had 
presented them in the form of an essay. Mr. 
Dodgson had a wide experience as a teacher 
and examiner, so that he knew well what he was 
writing about, and undoubtedly the appearance of 
this book has done very much to stay the hand of 
the innovator. 

The scene opens in a College study — time, mid- 
night. Minos, an examiner, is discovered seated 
between two immense piles of manuscripts. He 
is driven almost to distraction in his efforts to 
mark fairly the papers sent up, by reason of the 
confusion caused throuoh the candidates offerina- 
various substitutes for Euclid. Rhadamanthus, 
another equally distracted examiner, comes to his 
room. 

The two men consult tOQfether for a time, and 
then Rhadamanthus retires, and Minos falls asleep. 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 203 

Hereupon the Ghost of Eudid appears, and 
discusses with Minos the reasons for retaining his 
Manual as a whole, in its present order and 
arrangement. As they are mainly concerned with 
the wants of beginners, their attention is confined 
to Books I. and II. 

We must be content with one short extract 
from the dialogue : — 

Euclid. — It is, I think, a friend of yours who has amused 
himself by tabulating the various Theorems which might be 
enunciated on the single subject of Pairs of Lines. How many 
did he make them out to be ? 

Minos. — About two hundred and fifty, I believe. 

Euclid. — At that rate there would probably be within the 
limit of my First Book — how many ? 

Minos. — A thousand at least. 

Euclid. — What a popular school-book it will be ! How 
boys will bless the name of the writer who first brings out the 
complete thousand ! 

With a view to discussing and criticising his 
various modern rivals, Euclid promises to send to 
Minos the ghost of a German Professor (Herr 
Niemand) who "has read all books, and is ready 
to defend any thesis, true or untrue." 

" A charming companion ! " as Minos drily 
remarks. 

This brings us to Act II., in which the Manuals 



204 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

which reject Euclid's treatment of Parallels are 
dealt with one by one. Those Manuals which 
adopt it are reserved for Act III., Scene i. ; while 
in Scene ii., "The Syllabus of the Association for 
the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching," and 
Wilson's " Syllabus," come under review. 

Only one or two extracts need be given, which, 
it is hoped, will suffice to illustrate the character 
and style of the book: — 

Act II., Scene v. — Niemand and Minos are 
arguing for and against Henrici's " Elementary 
Geometry." 

Minos. — I haven't quite done with points yet. I find an 
assertion that they never jump. Do you think that arises 
from their having " position," which they feel might be com- 
promised by such conduct ? 

Niemand. — I cannot tell without hearing the passage read. 

Minos. — It is this : " A point, in changing its position on 
a curve, passes in moving from one position to another 
through all intermediate positions. It does not move by 
jumps." 

Niemand. — That is quite true. 

Minos. — Tell me then — is every centre of gravity a point? 

Niemand. — Certainly. 

Minos. — Let us now consider the centre of gravity of a flea. 
Does it 

Niemand (indignantly). — Another word, and I shall vanish ! 
I cannot waste a night on such trivialities. 



« 



LEWIS CARROLL 



205 



Minos. — I can't resist giving you just one more tit-bit — 
the definition of a square at page 123: "A quadrilateral 
which is a kite, a symmetrical trapezium, and a parallelogram 
is a square ! " And now, farewell, Henrici ! " Euclid, with all 
thy faults, I love thee still ! " 

Again, from Act II., Scene vi. : — 

Niemand. — He [Pierce, another " Modern Rival,"] has a 
definition of direction which will, I think, be new to you. 
{Reads.) 

" The direction of a line in any part is the direction of a 
point at that part from the next preceding point of the line ! " 

Minos. — That sounds mysterious. Which way along a line 
are " preceding " points to be found ? 

Nicmaiid. — Both ivays. He adds, directly afterwards, "A 
line has two different directions," &:c. 

Minos. — So your definition needs a postscript. . . . But 
there is yet another difficulty. How far from a point is the 
" next " point ? 

Xicniand. — At an infinitely small distance, of course. 
You will find the matter fully discussed in my work on the 
Infinitesimal Calculus. 

Minos. — A most satisfactory answer for a teacher to make 
to a pupil just beginning Geometry ! 

In Act IV, Euclid reappears to Minos, "fol- 
lowed by the ghosts of Archimedes, Pythagoras, 
&c., who have come to see fair play." Euclid 
thus sums up his case : — 

" ' The cock doth craw, the day doth daw,' and all respect- 
able ghosts ought to be going home. Let me carry with me 



2o6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the hope that I have convinced you of the necessity of 
retaining my order and numbering, and my method of treating 
Straight Lines, Angles, Right Angles, and (most especially) 
Parallels. Leave me these untouched, and I shall look on 
with great contentment while other changes are made — while 
my proofs are abridged and improved — while alternative proofs 
are appended to mine — and while new Problems and Theorems 
are interpolated. In all these matters my Manual is capable 
of almost unUmited improvement." 

In Appendices L and II, Mr. Dodgson 
quotes the opinions of two eminent mathematical 
teachers, Mr. Todhunter and Professor De 
Morgan, in support of his argument. 

Before leaving this subject I should like to 
refer to a very novel use of Mr. Dodgson's book 
— its employment in a school. Mr. G. Hopkins; 
Mathematical Master in the High School at 
Manchester, U.S., and himself the author of a 
" Manual of Plane Geometry," has so employed 
it in a class of boys aged from fourteen or fifteen 
upwards. He first called their attention to some 
of the more prominent difficulties relating to the 
question of Parallels, put a copy of Euclid inf 
their hands, and let them see his treatment of 
them, and after some discussion placed before 
them Mr. Dodgson's " Euclid and His Modern 
Rivals " and " New Theory of Parallels." 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 207 

Perhaps it is the fact that American boys 
are sharper than English, but at any rate the 
youngsters are reported to have read the two 
books with an earnestness and a persistency that 
were as gratifying to their instructor as they 
were compHmentary to Mr. Dodgson. 

In June of the same year an entry in the Diary 
refers to a proposal in Convocation to allow the 
University Club to have a cricket-ground in the 
Parks. This had been proposed in 1867, and 
then rejected. Mr. Dodgson sent round to the 
Common Rooms copies of a poem on " The 
Deserted Parks," which had been published by 
Messrs. Parker in 1867, and which was after- 
wards included in " Notes by an Oxford Chiel." 
I quote the first few lines : — • 

Museum ! loveliest building of the plain 
Where Cherwell winds towards the distant main ; 
How often have I loitered o'er thy green, 
Where humble happiness endeared the scene ! 
How often have I paused on every charm, — 
The rustic couple walking arm in arm, 
The groups of trees, with seats beneath the shade 
For prattling babes and whisp'ring lovers made, 
The never-failing brawl, the busy mill. 
Where tiny urchins vied in fistic skill. 
(Two phrases only have that dusky race 
, Caught from the learned influence of the place ; 



2o8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Phrases in their simplicity sublime, 

" Scramble a copper ! " " Please, sir, what s the time ? ") 
These round thy walks their cheerful influence shed ; 
These were thy charms — but all these charms are fled. 

Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, 
And rude pavilions sadden all thy green ; 
One selfish pastime grasps the whole domain, 
And half a faction swallows up the plain ; 
Adown thy glades, all sacrificed to cricket. 
The hollow-sounding bat now guards the wicket ; 
Sunk are thy mounds in shapeless level all. 
Lest aught impede the swiftly rolling ball ; 
And trembling, shrinking from the fatal blow. 
Far, far away thy hapless children go. 
Ill fares the place, to luxury a prey. 
Where wealth accumulates, and minds decay : 
Athletic sports may flourish or may fade. 
Fashion may make them, even as it has made ; 
But the broad Parks, the city's joy and pride. 
When once destroyed can never be supplied ! 

Readers of " Sylvie and Bruno " will remember i 
the way in which the invisible fairy-children save 
the drunkard from his evil life, and I have always ' 
felt that Mr. Dodgson meant Sylvie to be some- 
thing" more than a fairy — a sort of guardian angel. 
That such an idea would not have been inconsis- 
tent with his way of looking at things is shown 
by the following letter : — 

Ch. Ch., ^uly, 1879. I 
My dear Ethel, — I have been long intending to answer your | 
letter of April nth, chiefly as to your question in reference to 



LEWIS CARROLL 209 

Mrs. N 's letter about the little S s [whose mother had 

recently died]. You say you don't see "how they can be 
guided aright by their dead mother, or how light can come 
from her." Many people believe that our friends in the other 
world can and do influence us in some way, and perhaps even 
" guide " us and give us light to show us our duty. My own 
feeling is, it Diay be so : but nothing has been revealed about 
it. That the angels do so is revealed, and we may feel sure of 
that ; and there is a beautiful fancy (for I don't think one 
can call it more) that "a mother who has died leaving a 
child behind her in this world, is allowed to be a sort of 

guardian angel to that child." Perhaps Mrs. N believes 

that. 

Here are two other entries in the Diary :— 

Aug. 26th. — Worked from about 9.45 to 6.45, and again from 
10.15 to 11.45 (making 10^ hours altogether) at an idea which 
occurred to me of finding limits for tt by elementary trigono- 
metry, for the benefit of the circle-squarers. 

Dec. 12th. — Invented a new way of working one word into 
another. I think of calling the puzzle " syzygies." 

I give the first three specimens : — 



MAN 
permanent 

ent i c e 
ICE. 

ACRE 
sacred 

ere dentials 

enti rely 
RELY. 



Send MAN on ICE. 



RELY on ACRE. 



210 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

PRISM 
p r ismatic 
dramatic 
mel o drama j ^^^^^ P^^SM to be ODIOUS. 

mel odious 

ODIOUS. j 

In February, 1880, Mr. Dodgson proposed to 
the Christ Church " Staff-salaries Board," that as 
his tutorial work was lighter he should have ^200 
instead of ^300 a year. It is not often that a 
man proposes to cut down /ii's oivn salary, but the 
suggestion in this case was intended to help the 
College authorities in the policy of retrenchment 
which they were trying to carry out. 

May 24th. — Percival, President of Trin. Coll., who has 
Cardinal Newman as his guest, wrote to say that the Cardinal 
would sit for a photo, to me, at Trinity. But I could not take 
my photography there and he couldn't come to me : so 
nothing came of it. 

Aug. jgth. [At Eastbourne] . — Took Ruth and Maud to the 
Circus (Hutchinson and Tayleure's — from America). , I made 
friends with Mr. Tayleure, who took me to the tents of horses, 
and the caravan he lived in. And I added to my theatrical 
experiences by a chat with a couple of circus children — Ada 
Costello, aged 9, and Polly (Evans, I think), aged 13. I 
found Ada in the outer tent, with the pony on which she was 
to perform — practising vaulting on to it, varied with somer- 
saults on the ground. I showed her my wire puzzle, and 
ultimately gave it her, promising a duplicate to Polly. Both 
children seemed bright and happy, and they had pleasant 



LEWIS CARROLL 211 

Sept. 2 lid. — Mrs. H took me to Dr. Bell's (the old 

homoeopathic doctor) to hear Lord Radstock speak about 
" training children." It was a curious affair. First a very 
long hymn ; then two very long extempore prayers (not by 

Lord R ), which were strangely self-sufficient and wanting in 

reverence. Lord R 's remarks were commonplace enough, 

though some of his theories were new, but, I think, not true — 
c\g., that encouraging emulation in schoolboys, or desiring 
that they should make a good position in life, was un-Christian. 
I escaped at the first opportunity after his speech, and went 
down on the beach, where I made acquaintance with a family 
who were banking up with sand the feet and legs of a pretty 
little girl perched on a sand-castle. I got her father to make 
her stand to be drawn. Further along the beach a merry 
little mite began pelting me with sand ; so I drew her 
too. 

Nov. 16th. — Thought of a plan for simplifying money- 
orders, by making the sender fill up two duplicate papers, one 
of which he hands in to be transmitted by the postmaster — it 
containing a key-number which the receiver has to supply in 
his copy to get the money. I think of suggesting this, and my 
plan for double postage on Sunday, to the Government. 

Dec. igth. — The idea occurred to me that a game might 
be made of letters, to be moved about on a chess-board till 
they form words. 

A little book, published during this year, 
"Alice (a dramatic version of Lewis Carroll's 
'Alice'), and other Fairy Tales for Children," 
by Mrs. Freiligrath-Kroeker, was very successful, 
and, I understand, still has a regular sale. Mr. 
Dodgson most gladly gave his consent to the 
dramatisation of his story by so talented an 



212 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

authoress, and shortly afterwards Mrs. Kroeker 
brought out " Through the Looking-Glass " in 
a similar form. 



^an. 17, 1881. — To the Lyceum to see "The Cup" 
and "The Corsican Brothers." The first is exquisitely put on, 
and Ellen Terry as Camma is the perfection of grace, and 
Irving as the villain, and Mr. Terriss as the husband, were 
very good. But the piece wants substance. 

y^aii. igth. — Tried to go to Oxford, but the line is blocked 
near Didcot, so stayed another night in town. The next 
afternoon the line was reported clear, but the journey took 5 
hours ! On the day before the Dean of Ch. Ch. and his 
family were snowed up for 21 hours near Radley. 

March 2'jtli. — Went to S. Mary's and stayed for Holy 
Communion, and, as Ffoulkes was alone, I mustered up 
courage to help him. I read the exhortation, and was pleased 
to find I did not once hesitate. I think I must try preachin, 
again soon, as he has often begged me to do. 

April i6th. — Mr. Greenwood approves my theory abou 
general elections, and wants me to write on it in the St. 
J^ames^s Gazette. [The letter appeared on May 5, 1881.] 

May 14///. — Took the longest walk (I believe) I have ever 
done — round by Dorchester, Didcot and Abingdon — 27 miles 
— took 8 hours — no blisters, I rejoice to find, and I' feel very 
little tired. 

May 26th. — The row-loving men in College are beginning to 
be troublesome again, and last night some 30 or 40 of them, 
aided by out-College men, made a great disturbance, and 
regularly defied the Censors. I have just been with the other 
Tutors into Hall, and heard the Dean make an excellent 
speech to the House. Some two or three will have to go 
down, and twelve or fifteen others will be punished in various 
ways. [A later note says] : The punishments had to be 



if 



I 

tl 



1 




DR. LIDDELL. 
(From a photograph by Hill & Satinders.) 



214 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

modified — it turned out that the disturbers were nearly all 
out-College men. 

Mr. Dodo-son sent a letter to T/ie Obsei"ucr on 
this subject : — 

Sir, — Your paper of May 29th contains a leading article on 
Christ Church, resting on so many mis-statements of fact that 
I venture to appeal to your sense of justice to allow me, if no 
abler writer has addressed you on the subject, an opportunity 
of correcting them. It will, I think, be found that in so 
doing I shall have removed the whole foundation on which 
the writer has based his attack on the House, after which I 
may contentedly leave the superstructure to take care of itself. 
" Christ Church is always provoking the adverse criticism o: 
the outer world." The writer justifies this rather broad 
generalisation by quoting three instances of such provocation, 
which I will take one by one. 

At one time we are told that " The Dean . . . neglects his 
functions, and spends the bulk of his time in Madeira." The 
fact is that the Dean's absence from England more than 
twenty years ago during two successive winters was a sad 
necessity, caused ' by the appearance of symptoms of grave 
disease, from which he has now, under God's blessing, 
perfectly recovered. 

The second instance occurred eleven years ago, when some 
of the undergraduates destroyed some valuable statuary in the 
Library. Here the writer states that the Dean first announced 
that criminal proceedings would be taken, and then, on dis- 
covering that the offenders were " highly connected," found 
himself " converted to the opinion that mercy is preferable to 
stern justice, and charity to the strict letter of the law." The 
facts are that the punishment awarded to the offenders was 
deliberated on and determined on by the Governing Body, 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 215 

consisting of the Dean, the Canons, and some twenty Senior 
Students ; that their deHberations were most assuredly in no 
way affected by any thoughts of the offenders being " highly 
connected " ; and that, when all was over, we had the satis- 
faction of seeing ourselves roundly abused in the papers on 
both sides, and charged with having been too lenient, and also 
with having been too severe. 

The third instance occurred the other night. Some under- 
graduates were making a disturbance, and the Junior Censor 
" made his appearance in person upon the scene of riot," and 
" was contumeliously handled." Here the only statement of 
any real importance, the alleged assault by Christ Church men 
on the Junior Censor, is untrue. The fact is that nearly all 
the disturbers were out-College men, and, though it is true 
that the Censor was struck by a stone thrown from a window, 
the unenviable distinction of having thrown it belongs to no 
member of the House. I doubt if we have one single man 
here who would be capable of so base and cowardly an act. 

The writer then gives us a curious account of the present 
constitution of the House. The Dean, whom he calls " the 
right reverend gentleman," is, " in a kind of way, master of 
the College. The Canons, in a vague kind of way, are sup- 
posed to control the College." The Senior Students " dare 
not call their souls their own," and yet somehow dare "to 
vent their wrath " on the Junior Students. His hazy, mental 
picture of the position of the Canons may be cleared up by 
explaining to him that the " control " they exercise is neither 
more nor less than that of any other six members of the 
Governing Body. The description of the Students I pass 
over as not admitting any appeal to actual facts. 

The truth is that Christ Church stands convicted of two 
unpardonable crmies — being great, and having a name. Such 
a place must always expect to find itself " a wide mark for 
scorn and jeers " — a target where the little and the nameless 
may display their skill. Only the other day an M.P., rising to 



2i6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ask a question about Westminster School, went on to speak of 
Christ Church, and wound up with a fierce attack on the 
ancient House. Shall we blame him ? Do we blame the 
wanton schoolboy, with a pebble in his hand, all powerless to 
resist the alluring vastness of a barndoor ? 

The essence of the article seems to be summed up in the 
following sentence: "At Christ Church all attempts to pre- 
serve order by the usual means have hitherto proved uniformly 
unsuccessful, and apparently remain equally fruitless." It is 
hard for one who, like myself, has lived here most of his life, 
to believe that this is seriously intended as a description of the 
place. However, as general statements can only be met by 
general statements, permit me, as one who has lived her*^ for 
thirty years and has taught for five-and-twenty, to say that in 
my experience order has been the rule, disorder the rare 
exception, and that, if the writer of your leading article has 
had an equal amount of experience in any similar place of 
education, and has found a set of young men more gentle- 
manly, more orderly, and more pleasant in every way to deal 
with, than I have found here, I cannot but think him an 
exceptionally favoured mortal.— Yours, &c. 

Charles L. Dodgson, 
, Stuaent and Mathematical Lecturer of 

Christ Church. 



I 



In July began an amusing correspondence 
between Mr. Dodgson and a " circle-squarer," 
which lasted several months. Mr. Dodgson sent 
the infatuated person, whom we will call Mr. B— — , 
a proof that the area of a circle is less than 3*15 the 

square of the radius. Mr. B replied, "Your 

proof is not in accordance with Euclid, it assumes , 
that a circle may be considered as a rectangle, 



fi 



•I 



LEWIS CARROLL 217 

and that two right lines can enclose a space." 
He returned the proof, saying that he could not 
accept any of it as elucidating the exact area of a 
circle, or as Euclidean. As Mr, Dodgson's method 
involved a slight knowledge of trigonometry, 

and he had reason to suspect that Mr. B 

was entirely ignorant of that subject, he thought 
it worth while to put him to the test by asking 
him a few questions upon it, but the circle- 
sqi irer, with commendable prudence, declined 
to discuss anything not Euclidean. Mr. Dodgson 
then wrote to him, " taking leave of the subject, 
until he should be willinor to enlargre his field 
of knowledge to the elements of Algebraical 

Geometry." Mr. B replied, with unmixed 

contempt, "Algebraical Geometry is all moon- 
shine." I/e preferred " weighing cardboard " as 
a means of ascertaining exact truth in mathe- 
matical research. Finally he suggested that Mr. 
Dodgson might care to join in a prize-competition 
to be got up among the followers of Euclid, and 
as he apparently wished him to understand that he 
(Mr. B — ■ — ■) did not think much of his chances of 
getting a prize, Mr. Dodgson considered that the 
psychological moment for putting an end to the 
correspondence had arrived. 



2i8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Meanwhile he was beo^Inninof to feel his resfular 
College duties a terrible clog upon his literary 
work. The Studentship which he held was not 
meant to tie him down to lectures and examina- 
tions. Such work was very well for a younger 
man; he could best serve "the House" by his 
literary fame. 

y^ii!y 14///. — Came to a more definite decision than I have 
ever yet done — that it is about time to resign the Mathematical 
Lectureship. My chief motive for holding on has been to 
provide money for others (for myself, I have been many years 
able to retire), but even the ;;^3oo a year I shall thus lose I 
may fairly hope to make by the additional time I shall have for 
book-writing. I think of asking the G. B. (Governing Body) 
next term to appoint my successor, so that I may retire at the 
end of the year, when I shall be close on fifty years old, and 
shall have held the Lectureship for exactly 26 years. (I had 
the Honourmen for the last two terms of 1855, but was not 
full Lecturer till Hilary, 1856.) 

Oct. iSth. — I have just taken an important step in life, Dy 
sending to the Dean a proposal to resign the Mathematical 
Lectureship at the end of this year. I shall now have my 
whole time at my own disposal, and, if God gives me life and 
continued health and strength, may hope, before my powers 
fail, to do some worthy work in writing — partly in the cause 
of mathematical education, partly in the cause of innocent 
recreation for children, and partly, I hope (though so utterly 
unworthy of being allowed to take up such work) in the cause 
of religious thought. May God bless the new form of life 
that lies before me, that I may use it according to His holy 
will ! 



II 



LEWIS CARROLL 219 

Oct. 2 is/. — I had a note in the evening from the Dean, to 
say that he had seen the Censors on the subject of my pro- 
posed resignation at the end of the year, and that arrange- 
ments should be made, as far as could be done, to carry 
out my wishes ; and kindly adding an expression of regret 
at losing my services, but allowing that I had " earned a 
right to retirement." So my Lectureship seems to be near 
its end. 

Xov. 30///. — I find by my Journal that I gave my Jirst 
Euclid Lecture in the Lecture-room on Monday, January 
28, 1856. It consisted of twelve men, of whom nine 
attended. This morning, I have given what is most probably 
my last : the lecture is now reduced to nine, of whom all 
attended on Monday : this morning being a Saint's Day, the 
attendance was voluntary, and only two appeared — E. H. 
Morris, and G. Lavie. I was Lecturer when the father of 
the latter took his degree, viz., in 1858. 

There is a sadness in coming to the end of anything in life. 
Man's instincts cling to the Life that will never end. 

May 30, 1882. — Called on Mrs. R . During a good 

part of the evening I read The Times, while the party played 
a round game of spelling words — a thing I will never join in. 
Rational conversation and good music are the only things 
which, to me, seem worth the meeting for, for grown-up 
people. 

June 1st. — Went out with Charsley, and did four miles on 
one of his velocimans, very pleasantly. 

The velocimaii was an early and somewhat 
cumbrous form of tricycle ; Mr. Dodgson made 
many suggestions for its improvement. He never 
attempted to ride a bicycle, however, but, in 
accordance with his own dictum, "In youth. 



220 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



try a bicycle, in age, buy a tricycle," confined 
himself to the three-wheeled variety. 

Nov. Sih. — Whitehead, of Trinity, told us a charming story ■ 
in Common Room of a father and son. They came up j 
together : the son got into a College — the father had to go 



RE5 PON SIGNS. 



H'ALLO, FATHl-.R, . I'r. THROV6H 





XI OXFORD TYPES 



{From a photograph by A T Sliriiuptoii.) 

to New Inn Hall : the son passed Responsions, while his 
father had to put off: finally, the father failed in Mods and 
has gone down : the son will probably take his degree, and 
may then be able to prepare his father for another try. 



Among the coloured cartoons in Shrimpton's 



LEWIS CARROLL 221 

window at Oxford there used to be, when I was 
up, a picture which I think referred to this story. 

A^ov. 2^ni. — Spent two hours "invigilating" in the rooms 
of ^^'. J. Grant (who has broken his collar-bone, and is allowed 
to do his Greats papers in this way) while he dictated his 
answers to another undergraduate, Pakenham, who acted as 
scribe. 

Nov. 24th. — Dined with Fowler (now President of C.C.C.) 
in hall, to meet Ranken. Both men are now mostly bald, 
with quite grey hair : yet how short a time it seems since we 
were undergraduates together at Whitby ! (in 1854). 

Dec 8tJi. — A Common Room Meeting. Fresh powers were 
given to the Wine Committee, and then a new Curator elected. 
I was proposed by Holland, and seconded by Harcourt, and 
accepted ofifice with no light heart : there will be much trouble 
and thought needed to work it satisfactorily, but it will take 
me out of myself a little, and so may be a real good — my life 
was tending to become too much that of a selfish recluse. 

During' this year he composed the words of a 
song, " Dreamland." The air was dreamed by 
his friend, the late Rev. C. E. Hutchinson, of 
Chichester. The history of the dream is here 
given in the words of the dreamer : — 

I found myself seated, with many others, in darkness, in a 
large amphitheatre. Deep stillness prevailed. A kind of 
hushed expectancy was upon us. We sat awaiting I know 
not what. Before us hung a vast and dark curtain, and 
between it and us was a kind of stage. Suddenly an intense 
wish seized me to look upon the forms of some of the heroes 
of past days. I cannot say whom in particular I longed to 
behold, but, even as I wished, a faint light flickered over the 



j3r^amlanlr. 



Words by Lewis Carroll. 



Music by C. E. Hutchinson. 




When mid - night mists are creep - in_2, And 



@feegp=FP=HE 



-&-' LZ^tzt 



3==;' 



|3i^^3^ 




all the land is sleep - iiig, A • round mc tread the 






^i#l^f^^?i 



*-/<?//,> r,///. /S-V' 



i-FPP#^ 



migh • ty dead, And slow - \y pass a - way. 

^ J 






g^P=H=[ 



Lo, warriors, saints, and sages, 
From out the vanished ages, 
With solemn pace and reverend face 
Appear and pass away. 

The blaze of noonday splendour, 
The twilight soft and tender, 
May charm the eye i yet they shall die, 
Shall die and p.iss away 



But here, in Dreamland's centre, 
No spoiler's hand may enter , 
These visions fair, this radiance rare, 
Shall never pass away, 

1 see the shadows falling, 
The forms of eld lecalling ; 
Around me tread the mighty dead. 
And slowly pass away 



LEWIS CARROLL 223 

stage, and I was aware of a silent procession of figures moving 
from right to left across the platform in front of me. As each 
figure approached the left-hand corner it turned and gazed at 
me, and I knew (by what means I cannot say) its name. One 
only I recall — Saint George ; the light shone with a peculiar 
blueish lustre on his shield and helmet as he turned and 
slowly faced me. The figures were shadowy, and floated like 
mist before me; as each one disappeared an invisible choir 
behind the curtain sang the " Dream music." I awoke with 
the melody ringing in my ears, and the words of the last line 
complete — " I see the shadows falling, and slowly pass away." 
The rest I could not recall. 

One of the best services to education which 
Mr. Dodgson performed was his edition of 
" EucHd I. and II.," which was published 
in 1882. In writinof "EucHd and His Modern 
Rivals," he had criticised somewhat severely 
the various substitutes proposed for Euclid, 
so far as they concerned beginners ; but at 
the same time he had admitted that within 
prescribed limits Euclid's text is capable of 
amendment and improvement, and this is what 
he attempted to do in this book. That he was 
fully justified is shown by the fact that during 
the years 1 882-1 889 the book ran through 
eight editions. In the Introduction he enume- 
rates, under the three headings of " Additions," 
" Omissions," and " Alterations," the chief points 



224 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of difference between his own and the ordinary 
editions of Euclid, with his reasons for adopting 
them. They are the outcome of long experience, 
and the most conservative of teachers would 
readily accept them. 

The proof of I. 24, for example, is decidedly 
better and more satisfactory than the ordinary 
proof, and the introduction of the definition of 
"projection" certainly simplifies the cumbrous 
enunciations of II. 12 and 13. Again, the alter- 
native proof of II. 8, suggested in the Introduc- 
tion, is valuable, and removes all excuse for 
omitting this proposition, as is commonly 
done. 

The figures used are from the blocks prepared 
for the late Mr. Todhunter's well-known edition 
of Euclid, to which Mr. Dodgson's manual forms 
an excellent stepping-stone. 

At the beginning of 1883, he went up to town 
to see the collection of D. G. Rossetti's pictures 
in the Burlington Gallery. He was especially 
struck with " Found," which he thus describes- — 



A picture of a man finding, in the streets of London, a girl 
he had loved years before in the days of her innocence. She 
is huddled up against the wall, dressed in gaudy colours, 
and trying to turn away her agonised face, while he, holding 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 225 

her wrists, is looking down with an expression of pain and 
pity, condemnation and love, which is one of the most mar- 
vellous things I have ever seen done in painting. 

^J^cin. 27, 1883 [His birthday]. — I cannot say I feel much 
older at 51 than at 21 ! Had my first "tasting-luncheon"; 
it seemed to give great satisfaction. [The object of the 
Curator's " tasting-luncheon " was, of course, to give members 
of Common Room an opportunity of deciding what wines 
should be bought.] 

March i^th. — Went up to town to fulfil my promise to Lucy 

A. : to take her for her first visit to the theatre. We 

got to the Lyceum in good time, and the play was capitally 
acted. I had hinted to Beatrice (Miss Ellen Terry) how 
much she could add to Lucy's pleasure by sending round a 
"carte" of herself; she sent a cabinet. She is certainly an 
adept in giving gifts that gratify. 

April 2T,rd. — Tried another long walk — 22 miles, to Besils- 
leigh, Fyfield, Kingston, Bagpuize, Frilford, Marcham, and 
Abingdon. The last half of the way was in the face of wind, 
rain, snow, and hail. Was too lame to go into Hall. 



CHAPTER VI 

(1883-1887) 

" The Profits of Authorship " — " Rhyme ? and Reason ? " — 
The Common Room Cat — Visit to Jersey — Purity of 
elections — ParUamentary Representation — Various lite- 
rary projects — Letters to Miss E. Rix — Being happy — 
"A Tangled Tale"— Religious arguments — The "Alice" 
Operetta — " Alice's Adventures Underground " — " The 
Game of Logic " — Mr. Harry Furniss. 



IN 1883 Lewis Carroll was advised to make 
a stand against the heavy discount allowed 
by publishers to booksellers, and by book- 
sellers to the public. Accordingly the following 
notice began to appear in all his books : "In 
selling Mr. Lewis Carroll's books to the Trade, 
Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will abate 2d. in th 
shilling (no odd copies), and allow 5 per cent 
discount within six months, and 10 per cent, for 
cash. In selling them to the Public (for cash 
only) they will allow 10 per cent, discount." 



I1 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 22-j 

It was a bold step to take, and elicited some 
loud expressions of diapproval. " Rather than 
buy on the terms Mr. Lewis Carroll offers," 
"A Firm of London Booksellers" wrote in The 
Bookseller of August 4th, " the trade will do well 
to refuse to take copies of his books, new or old, 
so long as he adheres to the terms he has just 
announced to the trade for their delectation and 
delight." On the other hand, an editorial, which 
appeared in the same number of The Bookseller, 
expressed warm approval of the innovation. 

To avoid all possible misconceptions, the 
author fully explained his views in a little 
pamphlet on "The Profits of Authorship." He 
showed that the bookseller makes as much profit 
out of every volume he sells (assuming the buyer 
to pay the full published price, which he did in 
those days more readily than he does to-day) as 
author and publisher together, whereas his share 
in the work is very small. He does not say 
much about the author's part in the work — that 
it is a very heavy one goes without saying 
— but in considering the publisher's share he 
says : — 

The publisher contributes about as much as the bookseller 
in time and bodily labour, but in mental toil and trouble a 



228 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

great deal more. I speak with some personal knowledge or 
the matter, having myself, for some twenty years, inflicted onj 
that most patient and painstaking firm, Messrs. Macmillan anc 
Co., about as much wear and worry as ever publishers have' 
lived through. The day when they undertake a book for me 
is a dies nefastus for them. From that day till the book is out 
— an interval of some two or three years on an average — there 
is no pause in " the pelting of the pitiless storm " of directions 
and questions on every conceivable detail. To say that every|i j 
question gets a courteous and thoughtful reply — that they are. ' 
still outside a lunatic asylum — and that they still regard me 
with some degree of charity — is to speak volumes in praise of i 
their good temper and of their health, bodily and mental. V \ 
think the publisher's claim on the profits is on the whole 
stronger than the bookseller's. 

" Rhyme ? and Reason ? " appeared at Christ- I 
mas ; the dedicatory verses, inscribed " To a 
dear child : in memory of golden summer hours 
and whispers of a summer sea," were addressed 
to a little friend of the author's. Miss Gertrude 
Chataway. One of the most popular poems in 
the book is " Hiawatha's Photographing," a de- 
licious parody of Longfellow's " Hiawatha." "In 
an age of imitation," says Lewis Carroll, in a 
note at the head, " I can claim no special merit 
for this slight attempt at doing what is known 
to be so easy." It is not every one who has read 
this note who has observed that it is really in the 
same metre as the poem below it. 



LEWIS CARROLL 



229 



Another excellent parody, " Atalanta in Cam- 
den-Town," exactly hit off the style of that poet 
who stands alone and unapproached among the 
poets of the day, and whom Mr. Dodgson used 
to call " the greatest living master of language." 

" Fame's Penny Trumpet," affectionately dedi- 
cated to all "original researchers" who pant for 
"endowment," was an attack upon the Vivisec- 
tionists. 

Who preach of Justice — plead with tears 
That Love and Mercy should abound — 

While marking with complacent ears 
The moaning of some tortured hound. 

Lewis Carroll thus addresses them : — 

Fill all the air with hungry wails — 
" Reward us, ere we think or write ! 

Without your gold mere knowledge fails 
To sate the swinish appetite ! " 

And, where great Plato paced serene, 
Or Newton paused with wistful eye, 

Rush to the chase with hoofs unclean 
And Babel-clamour of the stye ! 

Be yours the pay : be theirs the praise : 

We will not rob them of their due, 
Nor vex the ghosts of other days 

By naming them along with you. 



230 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

They sought and found undying fame : 
They toiled not for reward nor thanks : 

Their cheeks are hot with honest shame 
For you, the modern mountebanks ! 

" For auld lang syne " the author sent a copy 
of his book to Mrs. Hargreaves (Miss Alice 
Liddell), accompanied by a short note. 

Christ Church, December 21, 1883. 
Dear Mrs. Hargreaves, — Perhaps the shortest day in the 
year is not quite the most appropriate time for recaUing the 
long dreamy summer afternoons of ancient times ; but anyhow 
if this book gives you half as much pleasure to receive as it 
does me to send, it will be a success indeed. 

Wishing you all happiness at this happy season, I am. 

Sincerely yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The beginning of 1884 was chiefly occupied 
in Common Room business. The Curatorship 
seems to have be6n anything but a sinecure. 
Besides weightier responsibiHties, it involved the 
care of the Common Room Cat! In this case 
the " care " ultimately killed the cat — but not 
until it had passed the span of life usually 
allotted to those animals, and beyond which their 
further existence is equally a nuisance to them- 
selves and to every one else. As to the best 
way of " terminating its sublunary existence," 



LEWIS CARROLL 231 

Mr. Dodgson consulted two surgeons, one of 
whom was Sir James Paget. I do not know 
what method was finally adopted, but I am sure 
it was one that gave no pain to pussy's nerves, 
and as little as possible to her feelings. 

On March i ith there was a debate in Conore- 
gation on the proposed admission of women to 
some of the Honour Schools at Oxford. This 
was one of the many subjects on which Mr. 
Dodgson wrote a pamphlet. During the debate 
he made one of his few speeches, and argued 
strongly against the proposal, on the score of 
the injury to health which it would inflict upon 
the girl-undergraduates. 

Later in the month he and the Rev. E. F. 
Sampson, Tutor of Christ Church, paid a visit 
to jersey, seeing various friends, notably the Rev. 
F. H. Atkinson, an old College friend of Mr. 
Dodgson's, who had helped him when he was 
editor of College Rhymes. I quote a few lines 
from a letter of his to Mr. Atkinson, as showing 
his views on matrimony : — 

So you have been for twelve years a married man, while I am 
still a lonely old bachelor! And mean to keep so, for the 
matter of that. College life is by no means unmixed misery, 
though married life has no doubt many charms to which I am 
a stranger. 



232 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

A note in his Diary on May 5th shows one of 1 
the changes in his way of life which advancing i' 
years forced him to make : — 

Wrote to (who had invited me to dine) to beg off, on 

the ground that, in my old age, I find dinner parties more and 
more fatiguing. This is quite a new departure. I much 
grudge giving an evening (even if it were not tiring) to 
bandying small-talk with dull people. 



H 



The next extract I give does not look much 
like old age ! 

I called on Mrs. M . She was out ; and only one 

maid in, who, having come to the gate to answer the bell, found 
the door blown shut on her return. The poor thing seemed 
really alarmed and distressed. However, I got a man to come 
from a neighbouring yard with a ladder, and got in at the '^< 
drawing-room window — a novel way of entering a friend's 
house ! 

Oddly enough", almost exactly the same thing 
happened to him in 1888 : "The door blew shut, 
with the maid outside, and no one in the house. 
I got the cook of the next house to let me go ' 
through their premises, and with the help of a 
pair of steps got over the wall between the two 
back-yards." 

In July there appeared an article in the S^. 
James s Gazette on the subject of " Parliamentary 



'I 



LEWIS CARROLL 233 

Elections," written by Mr. Dodgson. It was a 
subject in which he was much interested, and a 
few years before he had contributed a long letter 
on the " Purity of Elections" to the same news- 
paper. I wish I had space to give both in full ; 
as things are, a summary and a few extracts are 
all I dare attempt. The writer held that there 
are a great number of voters, and />aj'i passu a 
great number of constituencies, that like to be on 
the winning side, and whose votes are chiefly 
influenced by that consideration. The ballot-box 
has made it practically impossible for the in- 
dividual voter to know which is going to be the 
winning side, but after the first few days of a 
general election, one side or the other has 
generally got a more or less decided advantage, 
and a weak-kneed constituency is sorely tempted 
to swell the tide of victory. 

But this is not all. The evil extends further than to the 
single constituency ; nay, it extends further than to a single 
general election ; it constitutes a feature in our national 
history ; it is darkly ominous for the future of England. So 
long as general elections are conducted as at present we shall 
be liable to oscillations of political power, like those of 1874 
and 1880, but of ever-increasing violence — one Parliament 
wholly at the mercy of one political party, the next wholly at 
the mercy of the other — while the Government of the hour, 
joyfully hastening to undo all that its predecessors have done, 



234 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

will wield a majority so immense that the fate of every question 
will be foredoomed, and debate will be a farce ; in one word, 
we shall be a nation living from hand to mouth, and with no 
settled principle — an army, whose only marching orders will 
be " Right about face ! " 

His remedy was that the result of each single 
election should be kept secret till the general 
election is over : — 

It surely would involve no practical difficulty to provide 
that the boxes of voting papers should be sealed up by a 
Government official and placed in such custody as would make 
it impossible to tamper with them ; and that when the last 
election had been held they should be opened, the votes 
counted, and the results announced. 

The article on " Parliamentary Elections " I 
proposed much more sweeping alterations. The 
opening paragraph will show its general pur- i 
port:— J 

The question, how to arrange our constituencies and con- 
duct our Parliamentary elections so as to make the House of 
Commons, as far as possible, a true index of the state of 
opinion in the nation it professes to represent, is surely equal 
in importance to any that the present generation has had to 
settle. And the leap in the dark, which we seem about to 
take in a sudden and vast extension of the franchise, would be 
robbed of half its terrors could we feel assured that each | 
political party will be duly represented in the next Parliament, 
so that every side of a question will get a fair hearing. 



LEWIS CARROLL 235 

The axioms on which his scheme was based 
were as follows : — 

(i) That each Member of Parliament should represent 
approximately the same number of electors. 

(2) That the minority of the two parties into which, broadly 
speaking, each district may be divided, should be adequately 
represented. 

{3) That the waste of votes, caused by accidentally giving 
one candidate more than he needs and leaving another of the 
same party with less than he needs, should be, if possible, 
avoided. 

(4) That the process of marking a ballot-paper should be 
reduced to the utmost possible simplicity, to meet the case of 
voters of the very narrowest mental calibre. 

(5) That the process of counting votes should be as simple 
as possible. 

Then came a precise proposal. I do not pause 
to compare it in detail with the suggestions of 
Mr. Hare, Mr. Courtney, and others : — 

I proceed to give a summary of rules for the method I 
propose. Form districts which shall return three, four, or 
more Members, in proportion to their size. Let each elector 
vote for one candidate only. When the poll is closed, divide 
the total number of votes by the number of Members to 
be returned plus one, and take the next greater integer as 
" quota." Let the returning officer publish the list of candi- 
dates, with the votes given for each, and declare as "returned" 
each that has obtained the quota. If there are still Members 
to return, let him name a time when all the candidates shall 
appear before him ; and each returned Member may then 



236 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

formally assign his surplus votes to whomsoever of the other 
candidates he will, while the other candidates may in like 
manner assign their votes to one another. 

This method would enable each of the two parties in a 
district to return as many Members as it could muster 
" quotas," no matter how the votes were distributed. If, for 
example, 10,000 were the quota, and the "reds" mustered 
30,000 votes, they could return three Members; for, suppose 
they had four candidates, and that A had 22,000 votes, B 
4,000, C 3,000, D 1,000, A would simply have to assign 6,000 
votes to B and 6,000 to C ; while D, being hopeless of success, 
would naturally let C have his 1,000 also. There would be no 
risk of a seat being left vacant through two candidates of the 
same party sharing a quota between them — an unwritten law 
would soon come to be recognised — that the one with fewest 
votes should give place to the other. And, with candidates of 
two opposite parties, this difficulty could not arise at all ; one 
or the other could always be returned by the surplus votes of 
his party. 

Some notes from the Diary for March, 1885, 
are worth reproducing here : — 

March is/. — Sent off two letters of literary importance, one 
to Mrs. Hargreaves, to ask her consent to my publishing the 
original MS. of " Alice " in facsimile (the idea occurred to me 
the other day) ; the other to Mr. H. Furniss, a very clever 
illustrator in Punch, asking if he is open to proposals to draw 
pictures for me. 

The letter to Mrs. Hargreaves, which, it will 
be noticed, was earlier in date than the short note 
already quoted in this chapter, ran as follows : — 



M 



il 
II 



LEWIS CARROLL 237 

My dear Mrs. Hargreaves, — I fancy this will come to you 
almost like a voice from the dead, after so many years of 
silence, and yet those years have made no difference that I 
can perceive in my clearness of memory of the days when we 
did correspond. I am getting to feel what an old man's failing 
memory is as to recent events and new friends, (for instance, I 
made friends, only a few weeks ago, with a very nice little maid 
of about twelve, and had a walk with her — and now I can't 
recall either of her names !), but my mental picture is as vivid 
as ever of one who was, through so many years, my ideal 
child-friend. I have had scores of child-friends since your 
time, but they have been quite a different thing. 

However, I did not begin this letter to say all that. What 
I want to ask is, Would you have any objection to the original 
MS. book of " Alice's Adventures " (which I suppose you still 
possess) being published in facsimile ? The idea of doing so 
occurred to me only the other day. If, on consideration, you 
come to the conclusion that you would rather not have it done, 
there is an end of the matter. If, however, you give a favour- 
able reply, I would be much obliged if you would lend it me 
(registered post, I should think, would be safest) that I may 
consider the possibilities. I have not seen it for about twenty 
years, so am by no means sure that the illustrations may not 
prove to be so awfully bad that to reproduce them would be 
absurd. 

There can be no doubt that I should incur the charge of 
gross egoism in pubUshing it. But I don't care for that in the 
least, knowing that I have no such motive ; only I think, con- 
sidering the extraordinary popularity the books have had (we 
have sold more than 120,000 of the two), there must be many 
who would like to see the original form. 

Always your friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The letter to Harry Furniss elicited a most 



238 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

satisfactory reply. Mr. Furniss said that he had 
lono- wished to illustrate one of Lewis Carroll's 
books, and that he was quite prepared to under- 
take the work (" Sylvie and Bruno"). 

Two more notes from the Diary, referring to 
the same month follow • — 

March loth. — A great Convocation assembled in the 
theatre, about a proposed grant for Physiology, opposed by 
many (I was one) who wish restrictions to be enacted as to 
the practice of vivisection for research. Liddon made an 
excellent speech against the grant, but it was carried by 412 
to 244. 

March 29///. — Never before have I had so many literary 
projects on hand at once. For curiosity, I will here make a 
list of them. 

(i) Supplement to "Euclid and Modern Rivals." ■ 

(2) 2nd Edition of " Euc. and Mod. Rivals." W{ 

(3) A book of Math, curiosities, which I think of calling 
" Pillow Problems, and other Math. Trifles." This will con- 
tairl Problems worked out in the dark, Logarithms without 
Tables, Sines and angles do., a paper I am now writing on 
" Infinities and Infinitesimals," condensed Long Multipli- 
cation, and perhaps others. 

(4) Euclid V. 

(5) "Plain Facts for Circle-Squarers," which is nearly com- 
plete, and gives actual proof of limits 3 •141 58, 3* 141 60. 

(6) A symbolical Logic, treated by my algebraic method. 

(7) " A Tangled Tale." 

(8) A collection of Games and Puzzles of my devising, with 
fairy pictures by Miss E. G. Thomson. This might also 
contain my "Mem. Tech." for dates; my "Cipher-writing" 
scheme for Letter-registration, (Src, &c. 



19 





H. FURNISS. 
(Froiii a photograph.) 



240 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

(9) Nursery Alice. 

(10) Serious poems in "Phantasmagoria." 

(11) "Alice's Adventures Underground." 

(12) "Girl's Own Shakespeare." I have begun on "Tem- 
pest." 

(13) New edition of " Parliamentary Representation." 

(14) New edition of Euc. I., II. 

(15) The new child's book, which Mr. Furniss is to illustrate. 
I have settled on no name as yet, but it will perhaps be 
" Sylvie and Bruno." 

I have other shadowy ideas, e.g., a Geometry for Boys, a vol. 
of Essays on theological points freely and plainly treated, and 
a drama on " Alice " (for which Mr. Mackenzie would write 
music) : but the above is a fair example of " too many irons in 
the fire!" 

A letter written about this time to his friend, 
Miss Edith Rix, gives some very good hints 
about how to work, all the more valuable because 
he had himself successfully carried them out. The 
first hint was as follows : — 

When you have made a thorough and reasonably long effort, 
to understand a thing, and still feel puzzled by it, stop, you will 
only hurt yourself by going' on. Put it aside till the next 
morning ; and if then you can't make it out, and have no one 
to explain it to you, put it aside entirely, and go back to that 
part of the subject which you do understand. When I was 
reading Mathematics for University honours, I would sometimes, 
after working a week or two at some new book, and mastering 
ten or twenty pages, get into a hopeless muddle, and find it 
just as bad the next morning. My rule was to begin the book 
again. And perhaps in another fortnight I had come to the 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 241 

old difficulty with impetus enough to get over it. Or perhaps 
not. I have several books that I have begun over and over 
again. 

My second hint shall be — Never leave an unsolved difficulty 
belli nd. I mean, don't go any further in that book till the 
difficulty is conquered. In this point, Mathematics differs 
entirely from most other subjects. Suppose you are reading an 
Italian book, and come to a hopelessly obscure sentence — 
don't waste too much time on it, skip it, and go on ; you will 
do very well without it. But if you skip a mathematical diffi- 
culty, it is sure to crop up again : you will find some other 
proof depending on it, and you will only get deeper and deeper 
into the mud. 

My third hint is, only go on working so long as the brain is 
quiie clear. The moment you feel the ideas getting confused 
leave off and rest, or your penalty will be that you will never 
learn Mathematics at all ! 

Two more letters to the same friend are, I 
think, deserving of a place here : — 

Eastbourne, Sept. 25, 1885. 
My dear Edith, — One subject you touch on — " the Resur- 
rection of the Body " — is very interesting to me, and I have 
given it much thought (I mean long ago). My conclusion was 
to give up the literal meaning of the material body altogether. 
Identity, in some mysterious way, there evidently is ; but there 
is no resisting the scientific fact that the actual material usable 
for physical bodies has been used over and over again — so that 
each atom would have several owners. The mere solitary fact 
cf the existence of cannibalism is to my mind a sufficient 
rediictio ad absurd nm of the theory that the particular set of 
atoms I shall happen to own at death (changed every seven 
years, they say) will be mine in the next life — and all the other 



242 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

insuperable difficulties (such as people born with bodily defects) 
are swept away at once if we accept S. Paul's " spiritual body," 
and his simile of the grain of corn. I have read very little of 
" Sartor Resartus," and don't know the passage you quote: but 
I accept the idea of the material body being the " dress " of 
the spiritual — a dress needed for material life. 

Ch. Ch., Dec. 13, 1885. 
Dear Edith, — I have been a severe sufferer from Logical 
puzzles of late. I got into a regular tangle about the " import 
of propositions," as the ordinary logical books declare that "all 
X is z" doesn't even hint that any.i"'s exist, but merely that the 
qualities are so inseparable that, if ever x occurs, z must occur 
also. As to " some .r is z," they are discreetly silent ; and the 
living authorities I have appealed to, including our Professor 
of Logic, take opposite sides ! Some say it means that the 
qualities are so connected that, if any .r's did exist, some must 
be z — others that it only means compatibility, i.e., that some 
might be z, and they would go on asserting, with perfect belief 
in their truthfulness, " some boots are made of brass," even if 
they had all the boots in the world before them, and knew that 
none were so made, merely because there is no inherent impossi- 
bility in making boots of brass ! Isn't it bewildering ? I shall 
have to mention all this in my great work on Logic — but / 
shall take the line " any writer may mean exactly what he 
pleases by a phrase so long as he explains it beforehand." But 
I shall not venture to assert " some boots are made of brass" 
till I have found a pair ! The Professor of Logic came over 
one day to talk about it, and we had a long and exciting argu- 
ment, the result of which was "x — x" — a magnitude which 
you will be able to evaluate for yourself. 

C. L. DODGSON. 

As an example of the good advice Mr. Dodgson 



LEWIS CARROLL 243 

used to give his young friends, the following letter 
to Miss Isabel Standen will serve excellently : — 

Eastbourne, Aug. 4, 1885. 

I can quite understand, and much sympathise with, what 
you say of your feeling lonely, and not what you can honestly 
call "happy." Now I am going to give you a bit of philosophy 
about that — my own experience is, that every new form of life 
we try is, just at first, irksome rather than pleasant. My first 
day or two at the sea is a little depressing; I miss the Christ 
Church interests, and haven't taken up the threads of interest 
here ; and, just in the same way, my first day or two, when I 
get back to Christ Church, I miss the seaside pleasures, and 
feel with unusual clearness the bothers of business-routine. In 
all such cases, the true philosophy, I believe, is " ivait a bit." 
Our mental nerves seem to be so adjusted that we feel first 
and most keenly, the J/s-comforts of any new form of life; 
but, after a bit, we get used to them, and cease to notice them ; 
and then we have time to realise the enjoyable features, which 
at first we were too much worried to be conscious of. 

Suppose you hurt your arm, and had to wear it in a sling for 
a month. For the first two or three days the discomfort of 
the bandage, the pressure of the sling on the neck and 
shoulder, the being unable to use the arm, would be a constant 
worry. You would feel as if all comfort in life were gone ; 
after a couple of days you would be used to the new sensations, 
after a week you perhaps wouldn't notice them at all ; and life 
would seem just as comfortable as ever. 

So my advice is, don't think about loneliness, or happmess, 
or unhappiness, for a week or two. Then " take stock " again, 
and compare your feelings with what they were two weeks pre- 
viously. If they have changed, even a little, for the better you 
are on the right track ; if not, we may begin to suspect the life 
does not suit you. But what I want specially to urge is that 



244 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

there's no use in comparing one's feelings between one day and 
the next ; you must allow a reasonable interval, for the direction 
of change to show itself. 

Sit on the beach, and watch the waves for a few seconds ; 
you say " the tide is coming in " ; watch half a dozen succes- 
sive waves, and you may say " the last is the lowest ; it is going 
out." Wait a quarter of an hour, and compare its average plsLCQ 
with what it was at first, and you will say " No, it is coming in 
after all." . . . 

With love, I am always affectionately yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The next event to chronicle in Lewis Carroll's 
Life is the publication, by Messrs. Macmillan, of 
"A Tangled Tale," a series of mathematical 
problems which had originally appeared in the 
Monthly Packet. In addition to the problems 
themselves, the author added their correct solu- 
tions, with criticisms on the solutions, correct or 
otherwise, which the readers of the Monthly 
Packet had sent in to him. With some people 
this is the most popular of all his books ; it is 
certainly the most successful attempt he ever 
made to combine mathematics and humour. The 
book was illustrated by Mr. A. B. Frost, who 
entered most thoroughly into the spirit of the 
thing. One of his pictures, " Balbus was assisting 
his mother-in-law to convince the dragon," is 
irresistibly comic. A short quotation will better 



LEWIS CARROLL 245 

enable the reader to understand the point of the 
joke :— 

Balbus was waiting for them at the hotel ; the journey down 
had tried him, he said ; so his two pupils had been the round 
of the place, in search of lodgings, without the old tutor who 
had been their inseparable companion from their childhood. 
They had named him after the hero of their Latin exercise- 
book, which overflowed with anecdotes about that versatile 
genius — anecdotes whose vagueness in detail was more than 
compensated by their sensational brilliance. " Balbus has 
overcome all his enemies " had been marked by their tutor, in 
the margin of the book, " Successful Bravery." In this way 
he had tried to extract a moral from every anecdote about 
Balbus — sometimes one of warning, as in " Balbus had 
borrowed a healthy dragon," against which he had written, 
" Rashness in Speculation "■ — sometimes of encouragement, as 
in the words, " Influence of Sympathy in United Action," 
which stood opposite to the anecdote " Balbus was assisting 
his mother-in-law to convince the dragon " — and sometimes it 
dwindled down to a single word, such as " Prudence," which 
was all he could extract from the touching record that " Balbus, 
having scorched the tail of the dragon, went away." His 
pupils liked the short morals best, as it left them more room 
for marginal illustrations, and in this instance they required all 
the space they could get to exhibit the rapidity of the hero's 
departure. 

Balbus and his pupils go in search of lodgings, 
which are only to be found in a certain square ; 
at No. 52, one of the pupils supplements the usual 
questions by asking the landlady if the cat 
scratches : — 



I 



246 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



The landlady looked round suspiciously, as if to make sure 
the cat was not listening. " I will not deceive you, gentlemen," 
she said. " It do scratch, but not without you pulls its 
whiskers ! It'll never do it," she repeated slowly, with a 
visible effort to recall the exact words of some written agree- 
ment between herself and the cat, "without you pulls its 
whiskers ! " 

" Much may be excused in a cat so treated," said Balbus as 
they left the house and crossed to No. 70, leaving the landlady 







""^Ss-to-^^oyns 'ToL.vU »-~N\^a.'^'\X' c^Wov I. 



(I 



(From a crayon drawing by the Rev. H. C. Gaye.) 

curtesying on the doorstep, and still murmuring to herself 
her parting words, as if they were a form of blessing — " Not 
without you pulls its whiskers ! " 



They secure one room at each of the following 
numbers — the square contains 20 doors on each 



LEWIS CARROLL 247 

side — Nine, Twenty-five, Fifty-two, and Seventy- 
three. They require three bedrooms and one 
day-room, and decide to take as day-room the 
one that gives them the least walking to do to get 
to it. The problem, of course, is to discover 
which room they adopted as the day-room. There 
are ten such "knots" in the book, and few, if any 
of them, can be untied without a good deal of 
thought. 

Owing, probably, to the strain of incessant 
work, Mr. Dodgson about this period began to 
be subject to a very peculiar, yet not very 
uncommon, optical delusion, which takes the 
form of seeing moving fortifications. Con- 
sidering the fact that he spent a good twelve 
hours out of every twenty-four in reading and 
writing, and that he was now well over fifty 
years old. It was not surprising that nature should 
begin to rebel at last, and warn him of the 
necessity of occasional rest. 

Some verses on "Wonderland" by "One who 
loves Alice," appeared In the Christmas number 
of Sylvias Ho7ne Journal, 1885. They were 
written by Miss M. E. Manners, and, as Lewis 
Carroll himself admired them, they will, I think, 
be read with interest : — 



J248 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

WONDERLAND. 

How sweet those happy days gone by, 
Those days of sunny weather, 

When Alice fair, with golden hair, 

And we — were young together ; — 

When first with eager gaze we scann'd 

The page which told of Wonderland. 

On hearthrug in the winter-time 
We lay and read it over ; 

We read it in the summer's prime. 
Amidst the hay and clover. 

The trees, by evening breezes fann'd, 

Murmured sweet tales of Wonderland. 

We climbed the mantelpiece, and broke 
The jars of Dresden china ; 

In Jabberwocky tongue we spoke, 
We called the kitten " Dinah ! " 

And, oh ! how earnestly we planned 

To go ourselves to Wonderland. 

The path was fringed with flowers rare, 
With rainbow colours tinted ; 

The way was " up a winding stair," 
Our elders wisely hinted. 

We did not wish to understand 

Bed was the road to Wonderland. 

We thought we'd wait till we should grow 
Stronger as well as bolder, 

But now, alas ! full well we know 
We're only growing older. 

The key held by a childish hand. 

Fits best the door of Wonderland. 



LEWIS CARROLL 249 

Yet still the Hatter drinks his tea, 

The Duchess finds a moral, 
And Tweedledum and Tweedledee 

Forget in fright their quarrel. 
The Walrus still weeps on the sand, 
That strews the shores of Wonderland. 

And other children feel the spell 

Which once we felt before them. 
And while the well-known tale we tell, 

We watch it stealing o'er them : 
Before their dazzled eyes expand 
The glorious realms of Wonderland. 

Yes, " time is fleet," and we have gained 

Years more than twice eleven ; 
Alice, dear child, hast thou remained 

" Exactually " seven ? 
With "proper aid," "two " could command 
Time to go back in Wonderland. 

Or have the years (untouched by charms), 

With joy and sorrow laden, 
Rolled by, and brought unto thy arms 

A dainty little maiden ? 
Another Alice, who shall stand 
By thee to hear of Wonderland. 

Carroll ! accept the heartfelt thanks 

Of children of all ages, 
Of those who long have left their ranks, 

Yet still must love the pages 
Written by him whose magic wand 
Called up the scenes of Wonderland. 



250 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Long mayst thou live, the sound to hear 

Which most thy heart rejoices, 
Of children's laughter ringing clear, 

And children's merry voices, 
Until for thee an angel-hand 
Draws back the veil of Wonderland. 

One Who Loves " Alice." 

Three letters, written at the beginning of 1886 
to Mi-ss Edith Rix, to whom he had dedicated 
" A Tancrled Tale," are interesting^ as showing 
the deeper side of his character : — 

Guildford, ^an. 15, 1886. 

My dear Edith, — I have been meaning for some time to 
write to you about agnosticism, and other matters in your letter 
which I have left unnoticed. And yet I do not know, much 
as what you say interests me, and much as I should like to be 
of use to any wandering seeker after truth, that I am at all likely 
to say anything that will be new to you and of any practical use. 

The Moral Science student you describe must be a beautiful 
character, and if, as you say, she lives a noble life, then, even 
though she does not, as yet, see any God, for whose sake she 
can do things, I don't think you need be unhappy about her. 
" When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee," is often sup- 
posed to mean that Nathanael had been praying, praying no 
doubt ignorantly and imperfectly, but yet using the light he 
had : and it seems to have been accepted as faith in the 
Messiah. More and more it seems to me (I hope you won't 
be very much shocked at me as an ultra " Broad " Churchman) 
that what a person is is of more importance in God's sight than 
merely what propositions he affirms or denies. You, at any 
rate, can do more good among those new friends of yours by 



LEWIS CARROLL 251 

showing them what a Christian is, than by telHng them what 
a Christian believes. . . . 

I have a deep dread of argument on reUgious topics : it has 
many risks, and Httle chance of doing good. You and I will 
never argue, I hope, on any controverted religious question : 
though I do hope we may see the day when we may freely speak 
of such things, even where we happen to hold different views. 
But even then I should have no inclination, if we did differ, to 
conclude that my view was the right one, and to try to convert 
you to it. . . . 

Now I come to your letter dated Dec. 22nd, and must scold 
you for saying that my solution of the problem was " quite 
different io all common ways of domg it " : if you think that's 
good English, well and good ; but / must beg to differ to you, 
and to hope you will never write me a sentence similar from 
this again. However, "worse remains behind"; and if you 
deliberately intend in future, when writing to me about one of 
England's greatest poets, to call him " Shelly," then all I can 
say is, that you and I will have to quarrel ! Be warned in 
time. 

C. L. DODGSON. 

" Ch. Ch., y^aii. 26, 1886. 
My dear Edith, — I am interested by what you say of 

Miss . You will know, without my saying it, that if she, 

or any other friend of yours with any troubles, were to like to 
write to me, I would very gladly try to help : with all my igno- 
rance and weakness, God has, I think, blessed my efforts in that 
way : but then His strength is made perfect in weakness. . . . 

Ch. Ch., Feb. 14, 1886. 

My dear Edith, — . , . I think I've already noticed, in a 

way, most of the rest of that letter — except what you say about 

learning more things " after we are dead." / certainly like to 

think that may be so. But I have heard the other view strongly 



252 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

urged, a good deal based on " then shall we know even as we 
are known." But I can't believe that that means we shall have 
all knowledge given us in a moment — nor can I fancy it would 
make me any happier : it is the learning that is the chief joy, 
here, at any rate. . . . 

I find another remark anent "pupils" — a bold speculation 
that my i,ooo pupils may really "go on" in the future life, till 
they have really outstripped Euclid. And, please, what is 
Euclid to be doing all that time ? . . . 

One of the most dreadful things you have ever told me is 
your students' theory of going and speaking to any one they are 
interested in, without any introductions. This, joined with 
what you say of some of them being interested in "Alice," 
suggests the horrid idea of their some day walking into this 
room and beginning a conversation. It is enough to make one 
shiver, even to think of it ! 

Never mind if people do say " Good gracious ! " when you help 
old women : it is being, in some degree, both " good " and 
" gracious," one may hope. So the remark wasn't so inap- 
propriate. 

I fear I agree with your friend in not liking all sermons. 
Some of them, one has to confess, are rubbish : but then I 
release my attention from the preacher, and go ahead in any 
line of thought he may have started : and his after-eloquence 
acts as a kind of accompaniment — like music while one is 
reading poetry, which often, to me, adds to the effect. 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The "Alice" operetta, which Mr. Dodgson had 
despaired of, was at last to become a reality. Mr. 
Savile Clarke wrote on August 28th to ask his 
leave to dramatise the two books, and he gladly 
assented. He only made one condition, which 



LEWIS CARROLL 253 

was very characteristic of him, that there should 
be " no S7iggestion even of coarseness in Hbretto or 
in stage business." The hint was hardly neces- 
sary, for Mr. Savile Clarke was not the sort of 
man to spoil his work, or to allow others to spoil 
it, by vulgarity. Several alterations were made 
in the books before they were suitable for a 
dramatic performance ; Mr. Dodgson had to write 
a song for the ghosts of the oysters, which the 
Walrus and the Carpenter had devoured. He 
also completed " 'Tis the voice of the lobster," so 
as to make it into a song. It ran as follows : — 

'Tis the voice of the lobster ; I heard him declare 

" You have baked me too brown : I must sugar my hair." 

As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose 

Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes. 

When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark. 

And talks with the utmost contempt of the shark ; 

But when the tide rises, and sharks are around. 

His words have a timid and tremulous sound. 

I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye. 
How the owl and the panther were sharing a pie ; 
The panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat, 
And the owl had the dish for his share of the treat. 
When the plate was divided, the owl, as a boon, 
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon : 
But the panther obtained both the fork and the knife, 
So, when he lo?t his temper, the owl lost its life. 



254 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

The play, for the first few weeks at least, was a 
orreat success. Some notes in Mr. Dodo-son's 
Diary which relate to it, show how he appreciated 
Mr. Savile Clarke's venture : — 



Dec. T,oth. — To London with M , and took her to "Alice 

in Wonderland," Mr. Savile Clarke's play at the Prince of 
Wales's Theatre. The first act (Wonderland) goes well, specially 
the Mad Tea Party. Mr. Sydney Harcourt is a capital Hatter, 
and little Dorothy d'Alcourt (cet. 6h) a delicious Dormouse. 
Phoebe Carlo is a splendid Alice. Her song and dance 
with the Cheshire Cat (Master C. Adeson, who played the 
Pirate King in " Pirates of Penzance ") was a gem. As a whole 
the play seems a success. 

Feb. II, 1887. — Went to the "Alice" play, where we sat 
next a chatty old gentleman, who told me that the author 
of " Alice " had sent Phoebe Carlo a book, and that she had 
written to him to say that she would do her very best, and 
further, that he is " an Oxford man " — all which I hope I 
received with a sufficient expression of pleased interest." 

Shortly before the production of the play, a 
Miss Whitehead had drawn a very clever medley- 
picture, in which nearly all Tenniel's wonderful 
creations — the Dormouse, the White Knight, the 
Mad Hatter, &c. — appeared. This design was 
most useful as a "poster" to advertise the play. 
After the London run was over, the company 
made a tour of the provinces, where it met with a 
fair amount of success. 



I 




MEDLEY OF TENNIEL'S ILLUSTRATIONS IN " ALICE." 
{from an etching by Miss Whitehead ; used as a theatrical advertisement.) 



256 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



1 



At the end of 1886, " Alice's Adventures Under- 
ground," a facsimile of the original MS. book, 
afterwards developed into "Alice's Adventures in ■ 
Wonderland," with thirty-seven illustrations by 
the author, was published by Macmillan & Co. 
A postscript to the Preface stated that any profits || 
that might arise from the book would be given to 
Children's Hospitals and Convalescent Homes 
for Sick Children. Shortly before the book came 
out, Lewis Carroll wrote to Mrs. Hargreaves, I 
giving a description of the difficulties that he had 
encountered in producing it : — 



Christ Church, Oxford 

November 11, 1886. 

My dear Mrs. Hargreaves, — Many thanks for your 
permission to insert " Hospitals " in the Preface to your book. 
I have had almost as many adventures in getting that 
unfortunate facsimile finished. Above ground, as your name- 
sake had Under it ! 

First, the zincographer in London^ recommended to me for 
photographing the book, page by page, and preparing the zinc- 
blocks, declined to undertake it unless I would entrust the 
book to hiui, which I entirely refused to do. I felt that it was 
only due to you, in return for your great kindness in lending 
so unique a book, to be scrupulous in not letting it be even 
touched by the workmen's hands. In vain I offered to come 
and reside in London with the book, and to attend daily in 
the studio, to place it in position to be photographed, and turn 
over the pages as required. He said that could not be done 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 257 

because "other authors' works were being photographed there, 
which must on no account be seen by the pubUc." I under- 
took not to look at anything but my own book ; but it was no 
use: we could not come to terms. 

Then recommended me a certam Mr. X , an ex- 
cellent photographer, but in so small a way of business that I 
should have to prepay him, bit by bit, for the zinc-blocks : 
and lie was willing to come to Oxford, and do it here. So it 
was all done in my studio, I remaining in waiting all the time, 
to turn over the pages. 

But I daresay I have told you so much of the story already. 

Mr. X did a first-rate set of negatives, and took them 

away with him to get the zinc-blocks made. These he 
delivered pretty regularly at first, and there seemed to be every 
prospect of getting the book out by Christmas, 1885; 

On October 18, 1885, I sent your book to Mrs. Liddell, who 
had told me your sisters were going to visit you and would take 
it with them. I trust it reached you safely ? 

Soon after this — I having prepaid for the whole of the zinc- 
blocks — the supply suddenly ceased, while twenty-two pages 
were still due, and Mr. X disappeared ! 

My belief is that he was in hiding from his creditors. We 
sought him in vain. So things went on for months. At one 
time I thought of employing a detective to find him, but was 
assured that " all detectives are scoundrels." The alternative 
seemed to be to ask you to lend the book again, and get the 
missing pages re-photographed. But I was most unwilling to 
rob you of it again, and also afraid of the risk of loss of the 
book, if sent by post — for even " registered post " does not 
seem absolutely safe. 

In April he called at Macmillan's and left eight blocks, 
and again vanished into obscurity. 

This left us with fourteen pages (dotted up and down the 
book) still missing. I waited awhile longer, and then put the 
thing into the hands of a solicitor, who soon found the man, 



258 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

but could get nothing but promises from him. "You will 
never get the blocks," said the solicitor, " unless you frighten 
him by a summons before a magistrate." To this at last I 
unwillingly consented : the summons had to be taken out 

at (that is where this aggravating man is living), and 

this entailed two journeys from Eastbourne — one to get the 
summons (my ^t^rso/w/ presence being necessary), and the other 
to attend in court with the solicitor on the day fixed for hearing 
the case. The defendant didn't appear ; so the magistrate said 
he would take the case in his absence. Then I had the new 
and exciting experience of being put into the witness-box, and 
sworn, and cross-examined by a rather savage magistrate's clerk, 
who seemed to think that, if he only bullied me enough, he 
would soon catch me out in a falsehood ! I had to give the 
magistrate a little lecture on photo-zincography, and the poor 
man declared the case was so complicated he must adjourn it 
for another week. But this time, in order to secure the presence 
of our slippery defendant, he issued a warrant for his appre- 
hension, and the constable had orders to take him into custody 
and lodge him in prison, the night before the day when the 
case was to come on. The news of this effectually frightened 
him, and he delivered up the fourteen negatives (he hadn't 
done the blocks) .before the fatal day arrived. I was rejoiced 
to get them, even though it entailed the paying a second time 
for getting the fourteen blocks done, and withdrew the action. 
The fourteen blocks were quickly done and put into the 
printer's hands ; and all is going on smoothly at last : and I 
quite hope to have the book completed, and to be able to 
send you a very special copy (bound in white vellum, unless 
you would prefer some other style of binding) by the end of 
the month. 

Believe me always. 

Sincerely yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 



LEWIS CARROLL 259 

" The Game of Logic " was Lewis Carroll's 
next book ; it appeared about the end of February, 
1887. As a method of teaching the first prin- 
ciples of Logic to children it has proved most 
useful ; the subject, usually considered very 
difficult to a beginner, is made extremely easy 
by simplification of method, and both interesting 
and amusing by the quaint syllogisms that the 
author devised, such as — 

No bald person needs a hair-brush ; 
No Uzards have hair ; 

.". No Hzard needs a hair brush. 

Caterpillars are not eloquent ; 
Jones is eloquent ; 

Jones is not a caterpillar. 

Meanwhile, with much interchange of corre- 
spondence between author and artist, the pictures 
for the new fairy tale, " Sylvie and Bruno," were 
being gradually evolved. Each of them was sub- 
jected by Lewis Carroll to the most minute 
criticism — hyper-criticism, perhaps, occasionally. 
A few instances of the sort of criticisms he used 
to make upon Mr. Furniss's work may be inte- 
resting ; I have extracted them from a letter dated 
September i, 1887. It will be seen that when he 



26o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

really admired a sketch he did not stint his 
praise : — 

(i) "Sylvie helping beetle" [p. 193]. A quite charming 
composition. 

(3) " The Doctor" and " Eric." [Mr. Furniss's idea of their 
appearance]. No ! The Doctor won't do at all ! He is a 
smug London man, a great "ladies' man," who would hardly 
talk anything but medical "shop." He is forty at least, and 
can have had no love-affair for the last fifteen years. I want 
him to be about twenty-five, powerful in frame, poetical in 
face : capable of intelligent interest in any subject, and of 
being a passionate lover. How would you draw King Arthur 
when he first met Guinevere ? Try thai type. 

Eric's attitude is capital : but his face is a little too near to 
the ordinary " masher." Please avoid that inane creature ; 
and please don't cut his hair short. That fashion will be 
*' out " directly. 
- (4) "Lady Muriel" (head); ditto (full length); " Earl." 

I don't like either face of Lady Muriel. I don't think I 
could talk to her ; and I'm quite sure I couldn't fall in love 
with her. Her dress (" evening," of course) is very pretty, 
I think. 

I don't like the Earl's face either. He is proud of his title, 
very formal, and one who would keep one " at arm's length " 
always. And he is too prodigiously tall. I want a gentle, 
genial old man ; with whom one would feel at one's ease in a 
moment. 

(8) "Uggug becoming Porcupine" ("Sylvie and Bruno, 
Concluded," page 388), is exactly my conception of it. I expect 
this will be one of the most effective pictures in the book. 
The faces of the people should express intense terror. 

(9) " The Professor " is altogether delightful. When you 
get the text, you will see that you have hit the very centre of 
the bull's-eye. 



LEWIS CARROLL 261 

[A sketch of " Bruno "]. No, no ! Please don't give us 
the (to my mind) very ugly, quite modern costume, which 
shows with such cruel distinctness a podgy, pot-bellied (excuse 
the vulgarism) boy, who couldn't run a mile to save his life. 
I want Bruno to be strong, but at the same time light and 
active — with the figure of one of the little acrobats one sees at 
the circus — not " Master Tommy," who habitually gorges 
himself with pudding. Also that dress I dislike very much. 
Please give him a short tunic, and real knickerbockers — not 
the tight knee-breeches they are rapidly shrinking to. 

Very truly yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

By Mr. Furniss's kind permission I am enabled 
to give an example of the other side of the 
correspondence, one of his letters to Mr, Dodgson, 
all the more interestinof for the charmingf little 
sketch which it contains. 

With respect to the spider, Mr. Dodgson had 
written : " Some writer says that the full face 
of a spider, as seen under a magnifying-glass, 
is very striking." 



"^ 



• •^ V ^ 



< 
$ 



^^ 






1 
















^^■1 



•^ ;? 



.t ^ ^ \^* 

^ 4 44U^ 



1^H ^ 







f, 



r 





SYLVIE AND BRUNO. 
{From a draictn" by Henry Holiday.) 



CHAPTER VII 

(1888-1891) 

A systematic life — " Memoria Technica " — Mr. Dodgson's 
shyness — " A Lesson in Latin " — The " Wonderland " 
Stamp-Case — " Wise Words about Letter-Writing " — - 
Princess Alice — " Sylvie and Bruno " — " The night 
Cometh " — " The Nursery ' Alice ' " — Coventry Patmore — 
Telepathy — Resignation of Dr. Liddell — A letter about 
Logic. 

AN old bachelor is generally very precise 
and exact in his habits. He has no one 
but himself to look after, nothing to dis- 
tract his attention from his own affairs ; and 
Mr. Dodgson was the most precise and exact 
of old bachelors. He made a precis of every 
letter he wrote or received from the ist of 
January, 1861, to the 8th of the same month, 
1898. These precis were all numbered and 
entered in reference-books, and by an ingenious 
system of cross-numbering he was able to trace 



266 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

a whole correspondence, which might extend 
through several volumes. The last number 
entered in his book is 98,721. 

He had scores of green cardboard boxes, all 
neatly labelled, in which he kept his various 
papers. These boxes formed quite a feature of 
his study at Oxford, a large number of them 
being arranged upon a revolving bookstand. 
The lists, of various sorts, which he kept were 
innumerable ; one of them, that of unanswered 
correspondents, generally held seventy or eighty 
names at a time, exclusive of autograph-hunters, 
whom he did not answer on principle. He 
seemed to delight in being arithmetically accurate 
about every detail of life. 

He always rose at the same early hour, and, if 
he was in residence at Christ Church, attended 
College Service. He spent the day according to 
a prescribed routine, which usually included a 
long walk into the country, very often alone, but 
sometimes with another Don, or perhaps, if the 
walk was not to be as long as usual, with some 
little orirl-friend at his side. When he had a 
companion with him, he would talk the whole 
time, telling delightful stories, or explaining some 
new logical problem ; if he was alone, he used 



LEWIS CARROLL 267 

to think out his books, as probably many another 
author has done and will do, in the course of a 
lonely walk. The only irregularity noticeable in 
his mode of life was the hour of retiring, which 
varied from 1 1 p.m. to four o'clock in the 
mornino-, accordino- to the amount of work which 
he felt himself in the mood for. 

He had a wonderfully good memory, except 
for faces and dates. The former were always a 
stumbling-block to him, and people used to say 
(most unjustly) that he was intentionally short- 
sighted. One night he went up to London to 
dine with a friend, whom he had only recently 
met. The next mornino" a o-entleman greeted 
him as he was walking. " I beg your pardon," 
said Mr. Dodgson, "but you have the advantage 
of me. I have no remembrance of having ever 
seen you before this moment." " That is very 
strange," the other replied, "for I was your host 
last night ! " Such little incidents as this hap- 
pened more than once. To help himself to 
remember dates, he devised a system of 
mnemonics, which he circulated among his 
friends. As it has never been published, 
and as some of my readers may find it useful, 
I reproduce it here. 



268 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



My " Memoria Tecnnica " is a modification of Gray's ; but, v ; 
whereas he used both consonants and vowels to represent 
digits, and had to content himself with a syllable of gibberish 
to represent the date or whatever other number was required, 
I use only consonants, and fill in with vowels ad libitum, 
and thus can always manage to make a real word of whatever 
has to be represented. 

The principles on which the necessary 20 consonants have 
been chosen are as follows : — 



"b" and "c," the first two consonants in the alphabet. 

" d " from " duo," " w " from " two." 

" t " from " tres," the other may wait awhile. 

"f" from "four," "q" from " quattuor." 

"1 " and " V," because " 1 " and " v " are the Roman sym 

bols for " fifty " and " five." 
" s " and " X " from " six." 
" p " and " m " from " septem." 
" h " from " huit," and " k " from the Greek " okto." 
" n " from " nine " ; and " g " because it is so like a " 9 
"z" and "r" from "zero." 



i 



There is now one consonant still waiting for its digit, viz., 
"j," and one digit waiting for its consonant, viz., "3," the 
conclusion is obvious. 

The result may be tabulated thus : — 



I 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 





b 


d 


t 


f 


1 


s 


P 


h 


n 


z 


c 


w 


J 


q 


V 


X 


m 


k 


g 


r 



When a word has been found, whose last consonants repre- 



LEWIS CARROLL 269 

sent the number required, the best plan is to put it as the last 
word of a rhymed couplet, so that, whatever other words in it 
are forgotten, the rhyme will secure the only really important 
word. 

Now suppose you wish to remember the date of the dis- 
covery of America, which is 1492 ; the " i " may be left out 
as obvious ; all we need is " 492." 

Write it thus : — 

492 
f n d 



and try to find a word that contains "f " or " q, " " n " or " g," 
"d" or "w." A word soon suggests itself — " found.'" 

The poetic faculty must now be brought into play, and the 
following couplet will soon be evolved : — ■ 

" Columbus sailed the world around, 
Until America was FOUND." 

If possible, invent the couplets for yourself; you will re- 
member them better than any others. 

^uiie, 1888. 

The inventor found this " Memoria Technica " 
very useful in helping him to remember the dates 
of the different Colleges. He often, of course, 
had to show his friends the sights of Oxford, and 
the easy way in which, asked or unasked, he 
could embellish his descriptions with dates used 
to surprise those who did not know how the 



270 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



thing was done. The couplet for St. John's 
College ran as follows : — 



"They must have a bevel 
To keep them so LEVEL." 



The allusion is to the beautiful lawns, for which 
St. John's is famous. 

In his power of remembering anecdotes, and 
bringing them out just at the right moment, Mr. 
Dodgson was unsurpassed. A guest brought 
into Christ Church Common Room was usually 
handed over to him to be amused. He was not 
a good man to tell a story to — he had always, 
heard it before ; but as a raconteur I never met 
his equal. And the best of it was that his stories 
never grew — except in number. 

One would have expected that a mind so clear 
and logical and definite would have fought shy 
of the feminine intellect, which is generally sup- 
posed to be deficient in those qualities ; and so it 
is somewhat surprising to find that by far the 
ofreater number of his friends were ladies. He 
was quite prepared to correct them, however, 
when they were guilty of what seemed to him 
unreasoning conduct, as is shown by the follow- 
ing extract from a letter of his to a young lady^ 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 271 

who had asked him to try and find a place for a 
o-overness, without orivino;" the latter's address : — 

Some of my friends are business-men, and it is pleasant to 
see how methodical and careful they are in transacting any 
business-matter. If, for instance, one of them were to write 
to me, asking me to look out for a place for a French gover- 
ness in whom he was interested, I should be sure to admire 
the care with which he would give me her name in full — (in 
extra-legible writing if it were an unusual name) — as well as her 
address. Some of my friends are not men of business. 

So many such requests were addressed to him 
that at one time he had a circular letter printed, 
with a list of people requiring various appoint- 
ments or assistants, which he sent round to his 
friends. 

In one respect Lewis Carroll resembled the 
stoic philosophers, for no outward circumstance 
could upset the tranquillity of his mind. He 
lived, in fact, the life which Marcus Aurelius 
commends so highly, the life of calm content- 
ment, based on the assurance that so long as we 
are faithful to ourselves, no seeming evils can 
really harm us. But in him there was one 
exception to this rule. During an argument he 
was often excited. The war of words, the keen 
and subtle conflict between trained minds — in 



272 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

this his soul took delight, in this he sought and 
found the joy of "battle and of victory. Yet he 
would not allow his serenity to be ruffled by any 
foe whom he considered unworthy of his steel ; 
he refused to argue with people whom he knew 
to be hopelessly illogical — -definitely refused, 
thouoh with such tact that no wound was gfiven, 
even to the most sensitive. 

He was modest in the true sense of the term, 
neither overestimating nor underratino- his own 
mental powers, and preferring to follow his own 
course without regarding outside criticism. " I 
never read anything about myself or my books," 
he writes in a letter to a friend ; and the reason 
he used to give was that if the critics praised him 
he might become conceited, while, if they found 
fault, he would only feel hurt and angry. On 
October 25, 1888, he wrote in his Diary: "I 
see there is a leader in to-day's Standard on 
myself as a writer ; but I do not mean to read it. 
It is not healthy reading, I think." 

He hated publicity, and tried to avoid it in 
every way. " Do not tell any one, if you see 
me in the theatre," he wrote once to Miss Marion 
Terry. On another occasion, when he was dining 
out at Oxford, and some one, who did not know 



LEWIS CARROLL 273 

that it was a forbidden subject, turned the con- 
versation on " AHce in Wonderland," he rose 
suddenly and fled from the house. I could 
multiply instances of this sort, but it would be 
unjust to his memory to insist upon the morbid way 
in which he regarded personal popularity. As 
compared with self-advertisement, it is certainly 
the lesser evil ; but that it is an evil, and a very 
painful one to its possessor, Mr. Dodgson fully 
saw. Of course it had its humorous side, as, for 
instance, when he was brought into contact with 
lion-hunters, autograph - collectors, e^ hoc genus 
onine. He was very suspicious of unknown 
correspondents who addressed questions to him ; 
in later years he either did not answer them at 
all, or used a typewriter. Before he bought his 
typewriter, he would get some friend to write for 
him, and even to sign " Lewis Carroll " at the 
end of the letter. It used to give him great 
amusement to picture the astonishment of the 
recipients of these letters, if by any chance they 
ever came to compare his "autographs." 

On one occasion the secretary of a " Young 
Ladies' Academy " in the United States asked 
him to present some of his works to the School 
Library, The envelope was addressed to "Lewis 



274 THE LIFE AXD LETTERS OF 

Carroll, Christ Church," an Incongruity which 
always annoyed him intensely. He replied to 
the Secretary, "As Mr. Dodgson's books are all 
on Mathematical subjects, he fears that they 
would not be very acceptable in a school 
library." 

Some fourteen or fifteen years ago, the Fourth- 
class of the Girl's Latin School at Boston, U.S., 
started a magazine, and asked him if they might 
call it T/ie Jabberwock. He wrote in reply : — 

Mr. Lewis Carroll has much pleasure in giving to the 
editors of the proposed magazine permission to use the title 
they wish for. He finds that the Anglo-Saxon word " wocer " 
or "wocor" signifies "offspring" or "fruit." Taking "jabber" 
in its ordinary acceptation of "excited and voluble discussion," 
this would give the meaning of " the result of much excited 
discussion." Whether this phrase will have any application to 
the projected periodical, it will be for the future historian of 1 1 
American literature to determine. Mr. Carroll wishes all 
success to the forthcoming magazine. 

From that time forward he took a great interest 
in the magazine, and thought very well of it. It 
used, I believe, to be regularly supplied to him. | 
Only once did he express disapproval of anything 
it contained, and that was in 1888, when he felt^ 
it necessary to administer a rebuke for what hei 
thought to be an irreverent joke. The sequel 



LEWIS CARROLL 275 

is oriven in the followinof extract from T/ie 
Jabberwock for June, 1888 : — 

A FRIEND WORTH HAVING. 

The Jahha-wock has many friends, and perhaps a few (very 
few, let us hope) enemies. But, of the former, the friend who 
has helped us most on the road to success is Mr. Lewis Carroll, 
the author of " Alice in Wonderland," &c. Our readers will 
remember his kind letter granting us permission to use the 
name " Jabberwock," and also giving the meaning of that 
word. Since then we have received another letter from him, 
in which he expresses both surprise and regret at an anecdote 
which we published in an early number of our little paper. 
We would assure Mr. Carroll, as well as our other friends, that 
we had no intention of making light of a serious matter, but 
merely quoted the anecdote to show what sort of a book 
AVashington's diary was. 

But now a third letter from our kind friend has come, 
enclosing, to our delight, a poem, " A Lesson in Latin," the 
pleasantest Latin lesson we have had this year. 

The first two letters from Mr. Carroll were in a beautiful 
literary hand, whereas "the third is written with a typewriter. 
It is to this fact that he refers in his letter, which is as 
follows : — ■ 

" 29, Bedford Street, 

" CovENT Garden, London, 

''May 16, 1888. 
"Dear young friends, — After the Black Draught of 
serious remonstrance which I ventured to send to you the 
other day, surely a Lump of Sugar will not be unacceptable ? 
The enclosed I wrote this afternoon on purpose for you. 

"I hope you will grant it admission to the columns of The 
Jabberwock, and not scorn it as a mere play upon words. 



276 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

" This mode of writing, is, of course, an American invention. 
We never invent new machinery here ; we do but use, to the 
best of our ability, the machines you send us. For the one I 
am now using, I beg you to accept my best thanks, and to 
believe me 

" Your sincere friend, 

" Lewis Carroll." 

Surely we can patiently swallow many Black Draughts, if 
we are to be rewarded with so sweet a Lump of Sugar ! 

The enclosed poem, which has since been 
repubHshed in "Three Sunsets," runs as follows: 

A LESSON IN LATIN. 

Our Latin books, in motley row, 

Invite us to the task — 
Gay Horace, stately Cicero ; 
Yet there's one verb, when once we know, 

No higher skill we ask : 
This. ranks all other lore above — 
We've learned "amare " means " to love " ! 



So hour by hour, from flower to flower, 

We sip the sweets of life : 
Till ah ! too soon the clouds arise. 
And knitted brows and angry eyes 

Proclaim the dawn of strife. 
With half a smile and half a sigh, 
" Amare ! Bitter One ! " we cry. 

Last night we owned, with looks forlorn, 
*' Too well the scholar knows 



m\ 



LEWIS CARROLL 277 

There is no rose without a thorn " — 
But peace is made ! we sing, this morn, 

" No thorn without a rose ! " 
Our Latin lesson is complete : 
We've learned that Love is " Bitter-sweet " 

Lewis Carroll. 

In October Mr. Dodgson Invented a very 
ingenious little stamp-case, decorated with two 
"Pictorial Surprises," representing the "Cheshire 
Cat " vanishinor till nothing but the orin was left, 
and the baby turning into a pig in " Alice's " 
arms. The invention was entered at Stationers' 
Hall, and published by Messrs. Emberlin and 
Son, of Oxford. As an appropriate accompani- 
ment, he wrote " Eight or Nine Wise Words on 
Letter- Writing," a little booklet which is still 
sold along with the case. The "Wise Words," 
as the following extracts show, have the true 
" Carrollian " ring about them : — 

Some American writer has said " the snakes in this district 
may be divided into one species — the venomous. The same 
principle applies here. Postage-stamp-cases may be divided 
into one species— the "Wonderland." 

Since I have possessed a " Wonderland-Stamp-Case," Life 
has been bright and peaceful, and I have used no other, I 
believe the Queen's Laundress uses no other. 

My fifth Rule is, if your friend makes a severe remark, 
either leave it unnoticed or make your reply distinctly less 



278 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

severe : and, if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards 
" making up " the little difference that has arisen between you, 
let your reply be distinctly more friendly. If, in picking a 
quarrel, each party declined to go more than three-eighths of 
the way, and if, in making friends, each was ready to go five- 
eighths of the way — why, there would be more reconciliations 
than quarrels ! Which is like the Irishman's remonstrance to 
his gad-about daughter : " Shure, you're always goin' out ! 
You go out tliree times for wanst that you come in ! " 

My sixth Rule is, doift try to have the last ivord ! How 
many a controversy would be nipped in the bud, if each was 
anxious to let the other have the last word ! Never mind how 
telling a rejoinder you leave unuttered : never mind your 
friend's supposing that you are silent from lack of anything to 
say : let the thing drop, as soon as it is possible without 
discourtesy : remember " Speech is silvern, but silence is 
golden" ! (N.B. If you are a gentleman, and your friend a 
lady, this Rule is superfluous : you won't get the last 
word !) 

Remember the old proverb, " Cross-writing makes cross- 
reading." " The old proverb ? " you say inquiringly. " Hozv 
old ? " Well, not so very ancient, I must confess. In fact, I 
invented it while writing this paragraph. Still, you know, 
" old " is a comparative term. I think you would be quite 
justified in addressing a chicken, just out of the shell, as "old 
boy ! " when compared with another chicken that was only 
half-out ! 

The pamphlet ends with an explanation of 
Lewis Carroll's method of using a correspon- 
dence-book, illustrated by a few imaginary 
pages from such a compilation, which are very 
humorous. 



ROYAL GLOBE THEATRE. 

Sole Lessee md ManifTCT , Mr RICHARD MANSFIELD 

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26th, 1888, and every Afternoon at 2.30, 

ALICE IN WONDERLAND, 



llKideouI Duces urangetJ br MdUe. ROSA. Pr'^rerie* hy LaRH*RT DreM«t by M and Madune ALIAS, deiiiMd bf U. U SBSCBE. tffm lit. 
JOHN TEN Nl EL'S Itluatniiona to iha Sf'Hei Eniir«lv New Secnor* 



Act I.-ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. 

Miss ISA BOWMAN 



While Rabbil -Masler i'.H ABT Fs BA WMaM 

Cuerpniar ~. ~. T. :..Miisler |OHN HKIAkT 

Duchess Miss NORTON 

Cook Miss EDITH VANBRUCH 

Cheshire C«l Easier CHARLES ADESON 

Hiller Mr. SIDNEY HARCOURT 

Hits Mr GODFREY 



„^ -flKs EMMIEBOWMAN 

king ol heart" .„ ~. Mas{ff ijl tHHtN ALlki.O.>J 

Oueen of Hearts MissDEWHURST 

Knave ot Hearts _. Miss IRENE VANBRUCH 

Executioner .. _. _. _ _. ... Mr ROY 

r.ryphon ... _ Mr. DRUCE 

Mock Turtle Mr T. P. HAYNES 



Scenes: I. — A Forest in Autumn. II.— Wonderland. (MrE.BANKS.i 

1I e*p— The Sonf or (be BWM—Alic> ■•>(«« in WonderUad— The Wtijta Rxttbit—" How doth the Uulo Crtxwdilo '— The C«t•rp^la^-^ You t 



Speik roDKhiT (o *oDr lli'le tior | B« ooty doei ii to annoy 

Tio Halter and iho Donnouse— Ttie Mad Tea Party— -"Twinkle. Twinkle. Hnte Bat"— T6« DonBonaa'a Story— 
.n nftteana— The Knave of M*art«—'* Off with lij.r hea.t - ntaaam na-atVfTTJ OF CAitD3. 

Eiocutlonar"— The Mock 



Torilo— The Grypt»on-Tbe Story of their frfhonl d.ys - Beauiifiil Soup ao rich and rreen "-The Lobater Quadrilli-J- WUt 
aaid the Whiting to the Snail-Tbe Story of the Whiting* and the Porpoise. , 

Til Ihe vol'e of ihe LobMer ] ».eard him declare. 1 At a duck with h.t evetida. ao he with fill OOM. 

Vou hnve bakrd tne too brown. 1 moat auear my hair . I Tnrnahla bell and hiabunona and (urtg ovt h' toea. 
T^O Stoleo Tarts— Tb« Ttialof iboKn**«of Heart a -The Haiier'i Bvideitoe— TheTwibkilpcof tbeTea— The Doniioua«id«ttlea u— Alice's ret 

Act TT.-THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS. 

Alice ... ... ... Miss ISA pnvyMAN 



wiiimKitig ... ^t Tr^ T^ Mr CObtREV 

While Queen ... -. Mis. IRENE VANBRUCH 

ThoCaroemer- _ Mr. ROY 

The Walrus ._ ,_ Mr DRUCE 

While Knight _ .. Master STEPHEN ADESON 

Lily -. _ Miss NORTON 

Rose _ ... Miss EDITH VANBRUCH 

RedOoeeo MissDEWHURST 



TweetlWutn" 7. Z Mr SIDNEY HARCOURT 

Tweetiletiee .- .- Mr T. P HAYNES 

HummyDumpty Mr DRUCE 

Tlie Lion ._ M.sler ALLWOOD 

Tyilnirom „, ... Master CHA RLES BOWMAN 

Hare n^ ~ ~. Z Z ...Mr (JOUKKKY 

Cook Mr SMIIiS 

Pudding _ . Miss D'ALCflURT 



Red King ... _ „.Maslor CHARLES ADESON ' riv.,ir-r r■^ ; n<t (with Homoipe) , ... Miss EMMIE BOWMAN 
Scene : Lookir^g-G.lass Land. ,Mr e banks) " ' 

Lookina-tja'f Land— The Cheaimen and the rtdiiit -The Red K.nr and ih* R-d tjiicon— " ] abberwocky. 



tppearUC* of lb* Jabb*rwodt— General con^iernarion— The Garden of lire Flowers— What the Lilr and Roaa Bald.^Tb« Red Qoet 

TweedteHamandTweedledee— "H-re weroroundthe Mulberry Ftnsh --The Walrus a-Nd , he Carnenter. 
TTie fate of the Oyalera— The broken raitle— C'-ai and deadly combat b^ween Twe*dledu'n and Tweedledea— The Crt 
Queeo and jam every other day— The visit in Humniv.Dumotv and (tlice'a Interview with him— »n unblnhdav pre»*i 

and ■■ <lt ih- tfin-'s H""-" and all (he Kine*a Me "-The R-d Kiny and the anelo-Saann Mes.. ,. 
THE UOH AND THE UNICOBN FT0«TtHO ynB THE CIIOWII -The white Knirht-Ali^e becnme- a Q»eeO-Tle Feillvat 



SPECIAL HEDtJOED PRICES FOR CHILXIREV UNDER TWELVE.- Siallv sa. 6d -. Dreia Circle, jv 

Chjorsopenai 1 1). Comme-ce ar I in Boi OfliM ojeo from lo to j, nndor ine directmn of Mr. f. H- iHaaa. „«„.,.., 

Uusteal Director Mr PDWaRD GERMAN jfuge Mananen Mr.SlDNEV HARCOURT and Mr. E. B. NORMAM 



IMPBRIAL.CRENADB FIRE EXTTNCUISHRBS are 6tted do IhrouKhoot tl)>s THeSlrooa a pyoylslonaeainat Fira. 
all ICES sold at ibfc Theatre are auooiied by Ibe^HOBTON ICt CR.AM Co.^and tp^aod Coffee by DAKIN t CO MPT. 

(Facsimile of programme of "■Alice in Wonderland.") 



28o 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



At the end of the year the " AHce " operetta 
was again produced at the Globe Theatre, with 
Miss Isa Bowman as the heroine. " Isa makes 
a delightful Alice," Mr. Dodgson writes, " and 
Emsie [a younger sister] is wonderfully good as 




"THE MAD TEA-PARTY." 
(From a photograph by Elliott & Fry.) 

Dormouse and as Second Ghost [of an oyster!], 
when she sings a verse, and dances the Sailor's 
Hornpipe." 

The first of an incomplete series, " Curiosa 
JMathematica," was published for Mr. Dodgson 



LEWIS CARROLL 281 

by Messrs. Macmillan during the year.' It was 
entitled "A New Theory of Parallels," and any 
one taking it up for the first time might be 
tempted to ask, Is the author serious, or is he 
simply giving us some j'eu tf espial ? A closer 
inspection, however, soon settles the question, 
and the reader, if mathematics be his hobby, is 
carried irresistibly along till he reaches the last 
page. 

The object which Mr. Dodgson set himself to 
accomplish w^as to prove Euclid I. 32 without 
assuming the celebrated 12th Axiom, a feat 
which calls up visions of the " Circle-Squarers." 

The work is divided into two parts : Book I. 
contains certain Propositions which require no 
disputable Axiom for their proof, and when once 
the few Definitions of "amount," &c., have 
become familiar it is easy reading. In Book II. 
the author introduces a new Axiom, or rather 
" Ouasi-Axiom " — for it's self-evident character is 
open to dispute. This Axiom is as follows : — 

In any Circle the inscribed equilateral Tetragon [Hexagon 
in editions ist and 2nd] is greater than any one of the Seg- 
ments which lie outside it. 

Assuming the truth of this Axiom, Mr. Dodg- 



282 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



son proves a series of Propositions, which lead 
up to and enable him to accomplish the feat 
referred to above. 

At the end of Book II. he places a proof (so 
far as finite magnitudes are concerned) of Euclid's 
Axiom, preceded by and dependent on the Axiom 
that "If two homogeneous mao-nitudes be both of 
them finite, the lesser may be so multiplied by a 
finite number as to exceed the greater." This 
Axiom, he says, he believes to be assumed by 
every writer who has attempted to prove Euclid's 
1 2th Axiom. The proof itself is borrowed, with 
slip^ht alterations, from Cuthbertson's " Euclidean 
Geometry." 

In Appendix I. there is an alternative Axiom 
which may be substituted for that which intro- 
duces Book 11., and which will probably com- 
mend itself to many minds as being more truly 
axiomatic. To substitute this, however, involves 
some additions and alterations, which the author 
appends. 

Appendix II. is headed by the somewhat 
startling question, "Is Euclid's Axiom true .^ " 
and though true for finite magnitudes — the sense 
in which, no doubt, Euclid meant it to be taken 
— it is shown to be not universally true. In 



ii 



LEWIS CARROLL 283 

Appendix III. he propounds the question, " How 
should P^arallels be defined ? " 

Appendix IV., which deals with the theory of 
Parallels as it stands to-day, concludes with the 
followino- words : — 

I am inclined to believe that if ever Euclid I. 32 is proved 
without a new Axiom, it will be by some new and ampler 
definition of the Right Line — some definition which shall 
connote that mysterious property, which it must somehow 
possess, which causes Euclid I. 32 to be true. Try that track, 
my gentle reader ! It is not much trodden as yet. And may 
success attend your search ! 

In the Introduction, which, as is frequently the 
case, ought to be read last in order to be appre- 
ciated properly, he relates his experiences with 
two of those "misguided visionaries," the circle- 
squarers. One of them had selected 3*2 as the 
value for "tt," and the other proved, to his own 
satisfaction at least, that it is correctly represented 
by 3 ! The Rev. Watson Hagger, to whose 
kindness, as I have already stated in my Preface, 
my readers are indebted for the several accounts 
of Mr. Dodgson's books on mathematics which 
appear in this Memoir, had a similar experience 
with one of these "cranks." This circle-squarer 
selected 3" 125 as the value for "tt," and Mr. 



284 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

H agger, who was fired with Mr. Dodgson's 
ambition to convince his correspondent of his 
error, failed as signally as Mr. Dodgson did. 

The followino- letter is interestingf as showing- 
that, strict Conservative though he was, he was 
not in religious matters narrow-minded ; he held 
his own opinions strongly, but he would never 
condemn those of other people. He saw "good 
in everything," and there was but little exagge- 
ration, be it said in all reverence, in the phrase 
which an old friend of his used in speaking of 
him to me : "Mr. Dodgson was as broad — as 
broad as C/in's^." 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

May 4, 1889. 

Dear Miss Manners, — I hope to have a new book out 
very soon, and had entered your name on the list of friends to 
whom copies are to go ; but, on second thoughts, perhaps you 
might prefer that I should send it to your little sister (?) [niece] 
Rachel, whom you mentioned in one of your letters. It is tO' 
be called "The Nursery Alice," and is meant for very young 
children, consisting of coloured enlargements of twenty of the 
pictures in " Alice," with explanations such as one would give 
in showing them to a little child. 

I was much interested by your letter, telling me you belong 
to the Society of Friends. Please do not think of uie as one 
to whom a " difference of creed " is a bar to friendship. My 
sense of brother- and sisterhood is at least broad enough tO' 
include Christians of all denominations ; in fact, I have one 



LEWIS CARROLL 285 

valued friend (a lady who seems to live to do good kind things) 
who is a Unitarian. 

Shall I put " Rachel Manners " in the book ? 

Believe me, very sincerely j'ours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

From June 7th to June loth he stayed at Hat- 
field. 

Once at luncheon [he writes] I had the Duchess (of 
Albany) as neighbour and once at breakfast, and had several 
other chats with her, and found her very pleasant indeed. 
Princess Alice is a sweet little girl. Her little brother (the 
Duke of Albany) was entirely fascinating, a perfect little prince, 
and the picture of good-humour. On Sunday afternoon I had 
a pleasant half-hour with the children [Princess Alice, the 
Duke of Albany, Hon*"' Mabel Palmer, Lady Victoria 
Manners, and Lord Haddon], telling them " Bruno's Picnic " 
and folding a fishing-boat for them. I got the Duchess's 
leave to send the little Alice a copy of the " Nursery 
Alice," and mean to send it with "Alice Underground" for 
herself. 

Towards the end of the year Lewis Carroll 
had tremendously hard work, completing " Sylvie 
and Bruno." For several days on end he worked 
from breakfast until nearly ten in the evening 
without a rest. At last it was off his hands, and 
for a month or so he was (comparatively) an idle 
man. Some notes from his Diary, written during 
this period, follow : — 



286 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 



m 



Nov. ijih. — Met, for first time, an actual believer in the 
"craze" that buying and selling are wrong (!) (he is rather 'out 
of his mind '). The most curious thing was his declaration 
that he himself lives on that theory, and never buys anything, 
and has no money ! I thought of railway travelling, and 
ventured to ask how he got from London to Oxford ? " On 
a bicycle!" And how he got the bicycle? "It was given 
him ! " So I was floored, and there was no time to think of 
any other instances. The whole thing was so new to me that, 
when he declared it to be un-Christian, I quite forgot the text, 
" He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy 
one." 

Dec. igtii. — Went over to Birmingham to see a performance 
of " Alice " (Mrs. Freiligrath Kroeker's version) at the High 
School. I rashly offered to tell " Bruno's Picnic " afterwards 
to the little children, thinking I should have an audience of 
40 or 50, mostly children, instead of which I had to tell it 
from the stage to an audience of about 280, mostly older girls 
and grown-up people ! However, I got some of the children 
to come on the stage with me, and the little Alice (Muriel 
Howard-Smith, set. 11) stood by me, which made it less awful. 
The evening began with some of " Julius Cfesar " in German. 
This and "Alice"" were really capitally acted, the White 
Queen being quite the best I have seen (Miss B. Lloyd 
Owen). I was introduced to Alice and a few more, and 
was quite sorry to hear afterwards that the other performers 
wanted to shake hands. 

The publication of " Sylvie and Bruno " marks 
an epoch in its author's Hfe, for it was the publica- 
tion of all the ideals and sentiments which he held 
most dear. It was a book with a definite pur- 
pose ; it would be more true to say with several 




THE LATE DUKE OF ALBANY. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



288 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

definite purposes. For this very reason it is not 
an artistic triumph as the two " AHce " books 
undoubtedly are ; it is on a lower literary level, 
there is no unity in the story. But from a higher 
standpoint, that of the Christian and the philan- 
thropist, the book is the best thing he ever wrote. 
It is a noble effort to uphold the right, or what he 
thought to be the right, without fear of contempt 
or unpopularity. The influence which his earlier 
books had oiven him he was determined to use 
in asserting neglected truths. 

Of course the story has other features, delight- 
ful nonsense not surpassed by anything in 
" Wonderland," childish prattle with all the 
charm of reality about it, and pictures which may 
fairly be said to rival those of Sir John Tenniel. 
Had these been all, the book would have been a 
great success. As things are, there are probably 
hundreds of readers who have been scared by the 
religious arguments and political discussions 
which make up a large part of it, and who have 
never discovered that Sylvie is just as entrancing 
a personage as Alice when you get to know her. 

Perhaps the sentiment of the following poem, 
sent to Lewis Carroll by an anonymous corre- 
spondent, may also explain why some of " Alice's " 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 289 

lovers have given " Sylvie " a less warm wel- 
come : — 

TO SYLVIE. 

Ah ! Sylvie, winsome, wise and good ! 
Fain would I love thee as I should. 
But, to tell the truth, my dear, — 
And Sylvie loves the truth to hear, — 
Though fair and pure and sweet thou art, 
Thine elder sister has my heart ! 
I gave it her long, long ago 
To have and hold ; and well I know, 
Brave Lady Sylvie, thou wouldst scorn 
To accept a heart foresworn. 

Lovers thou wilt have enow 
Under many a greening bough — 
Lovers yet unborn galore, 
Like Alice all the wide world o'er ; 
But, darling, I am now too old 
To change. And though I still shall hold 
Thee, and that puckling sprite, thy brother, 
Dear, I cannot love another : 
In this heart of mine I own 
She must ever reign alone ! 
March, 1890. N.P. 

I do not ,know N.P.'s name and address, or 
I should have asked leave before giving publicity 
to the above verses. If these words meet his eye,- 
I hope he will accept my most humble apologies 
for the liberty I have taken. 



2go THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

At the beginning of 1894 a Baptist minister,' 
preaching on the text, " No man Hveth to 
himself," made use of " Sylvie and Bruno " to 
enforce his argument. After saying that he 
had been reading that book, he proceeded as 
follows : — 

A child was asked to define charity. He said it was " givin' 
away what yer didn't want yerself." This was some people's idea 
of self-sacrifice ; but it was not Christ's. Then as to serving 
others in view of reward : Mr, Lewis Carroll put this view of 
the subject very forcibly in his " Sylvie and Bruno " — an excel- 
lent book for youth ; indeed, for men and women too. He 
first criticised Archdeacon Paley's definition of virtue (which 
was said to be '' the doing good to mankind, in obedience to 
the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness,") 
and then turned to such hymns as the following : — 

Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee, 
Repaid a thousandfold shall be, 
Then gladly will we give to Thee, 
Giver of all ! 

Mr. Carroll's comment was brief and to the point. He said : 
" Talk of Original Sin I Can you have a stronger proof of the 
Original Goodness there must be in this nation than the fact 
that Religion has been preached to us, as a commercial specu- 
lation, for a century, and that we still believe in a God ? " 
[" Sylvie and Bruno," Part i., pp. 276, 277.] Of course it was 
quite true, as Mr. Carroll pointed out, that our good deeds 
•would be rewarded; but we ought to do them because they 
■yvere good^ and not because the reward was great. 

In the Preface to " Sylvie and Bruno," Lewis 



LEWIS CARROLL 291 

Carroll alluded to certain editions of Shakespeare 
which seemed to him unsuitable for children ; it 
never seemed to strike him that his words miofht 
be read by children, and that thus his object 
very probably would be defeated, until this fact 
was pointed out to him in a letter from an 
unknown correspondent, Mr. J. C. Cropper, of 
Hampstead. Mr. Dodgson replied as follows : — 

Dear Sir, — Accept my best thanks for your thoughtful and 
valuable suggestion about the Preface to " Sylvie and Bruno." 
The danger you point out had not occurred to me (I suppose 
I had not thought of children reading the Preface) : but it is a 
very real one, and I am very glad to have had my attention 
called to it. 

Believe me, truly yours, 

Lewis Carroll. 

Mathematical controversy carried on by corre- 
spondence was a favourite recreation of Mr. 
Dodgson's, and on February 20, 1890, he 
wrote : — 

I've just concluded a correspondence with a Cambridge man, 
who is writing a Geometry on the " Direction " theory (Wil- 
son's plan), and thinks he has avoided Wilson's (what / think) 
fallacies. He hasn't, but I can't convince him ! My view of 
life is, that it's next to impossible to convince anybody of 
anything. 

The following letter is very characteristic. 



292 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 

all thy might," was Mr. Dodgson's rule of life, 

and, as the end drew near, he only worked the 

harder : — 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

April lo, 1890. 

My dear Atkinson, — Many and sincere thanks for your 
most hospitable invitation, and for the very interesting photo 
of the family group. The former I fear I must ask you to let 
me defer sine die, and regard it as a pleasant dream, not quite 
hopeless of being some day realised. I keep a list of such 
pleasant possibilities, and yours is now one of ten similar kind 
offers of hospitality. But as life shortens in, and the evening 
shadows loom in sight, one gets to grudge any time given to 
mere pleasure, which might entail the leaving work half finished 
that one is longing to do before the end comes. 

There are several books I greatly desire to get finished for 
children. I am glad to find my working powers are as 
good as they ever were. Even with the mathematical book 
(a third edition) which I am now getting through the press, 
I think nothing, of working six hours at a stretch. 

There is one text that often occurs to me, " The night 
cometh, when no man can work." Kindest regards to Mrs. 
Atkinson, and love to Gertrude. 

Always sincerely yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

For the benefit of children aged " from nought 
to five," as he himself phrased it, Lewis Carroll 
prepared a nursery edition of " Alice." He 
shortened the text considerably, and altered it so 
much that only the plot of the story remained 



LEWIS CARROLL 293 

unchanged. It was illustrated by the old pic- 
tures, coloured by Tenniel, and the cover was 
adorned by a picture designed by Miss E. Gert- 
rude Thomson. As usual, the Dedication takes 
the form of an anagram, the solution of which is 
the name of one of his later child-friends. " T/ie 
Nursery 'Alices was published by Macmillan 
and Co., in March, 1890. 

On August 1 8th the following letter on the 
" Eight Hours Movement " appeared in The 
Standard : — 

Sir, — Supposing it were the custom, in a certain town, to 
sell eggs in paper bags at so much per bag, and that a fierce 
dispute had arisen between the egg vendors and the public 
as to how many eggs each bag should be understood to 
contain, the vendors wishing to be allowed to make up smaller 
bags ; and supposing the public were to say, " In future we 
will pay you so much per egg, and you can make up bags as 
you please," would any ground remain for further dispute? 

Supposing that employers of labour, when threatened with 
a "strike" in case they should decline to reduce the number 
of hours in a working day, were to reply, " In future we will 
pay you so much per hour, and you can make up days as you 
please," it does appear to me — being, as I confess, an ignorant 
outsider — that the dispute would die out for want of a rahon 
d'etre, and that these disastrous strikes, inflicting such heavy 
loss on employers and employed alike, would become things 
of the past. 

I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 

Lewis Carroll. 



294 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The remainder of the year was uneventful ; 
a few notes from his Diary must represent it 
here : — 

Oct. 4th. — Called on Mr. Coventry Patmore (at Hastings), 
and was very kindly received by him, and stayed for afternoon 
tea and dinner. He showed me some interesting pictures, 
including a charming little drawing, by Holman Hunt, of one 
of his daughters when three years old. He gave me an in- 
teresting account of his going, by Tennyson's request, to his 
lodging to look for the MS. of " In Memoriam," which he had 
left behind, and only finding it by insisting on going upstairs, 
in spite of the landlady's opposition, to search for it. Also he 
told me the story (I think I have heard it before) of what 
Wordsworth told his friends as the " one joke " of his life, 
in answer to a passing carter who asked if he had seen his 
wife. " My good friend, I didn't even know you had a wife ! " 
He seems a very hale and vigorous old man for nearly seventy, 
which I think he gave as his age in writing to me. 

Oct. 31s/. — This morning, thinking over the problem of 
finding two squares whose sum is a square, I chanced on a 
theorem (which, seems true, though I cannot prove it), that if 
^2 _|_ y2 \yQ even, its half is the sum of two squares. A kindred 
theorem, that 2 {x^ + y"") is always the sum of two squares, 
also seems true and unprovable. 

Nov. ^th. — I have now proved the above two theorems. 
Another pretty deduction from the theory of square numbers 
is, that any number whose square is the sum of two squares, is 
itself the sum of two squares. 

I have already mentioned Mr. Dodgson's habit 
of thinking out problems at night. Often new 
ideas would occur to him during hours of sleep- 



LEWIS CARROLL 295 

lessness, and he had long wanted to hear of or 
invent some easy method of taking notes in the 
dark. At first he tried writing within oblongs 
cut out of cardboard, but the result was apt to be 
illegible. In 1891 he conceived the device of 
having a series of squares cut out in card, and 
inventing an alphabet, of which each letter was 
made of lines, which could be written along the 
edges of the squares, and dots, which could be 
marked at the corners. The thing worked well, 
and he named it the " Typhlograph," but, at the 
suesfestion of one of his brother-students, this 
was subsequently changed into " Nyctograph." 

He spent the Long Vacation at Eastbourne, 
attending service every Sunday at Christ Church, 
according to his usual .rule. 

Sept. 6, 1 89 1. — At the evening service at Christ Church 
a curious thing happened, suggestive of telepathy. Before 
giving out the second hymn the curate read out some 
notices. Meanwhile I took my hymn-book, and said to 
myself (I have no idea, why), " It will be hymn 416," and I 
turned to it. It was not one I recognised as having ever 
heard ; and, on looking at it, I said, " It is very prosaic ; it is 
a very unlikely one " — and it was really startling, the next 
minute, to hear the curate announce " Hymn 416." 

In October it became generally known that 
Dean Liddell was g"oino- to resign at Christmas. 

00 o 




THE DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH. 
{From a photograph by Hill & Snuiiders.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 297 

This was a great blow to Mr. Dodgson, but little 
mitigated by the fact that the very man whom he 
himself would have chosen, Dr. Paget, was 
appointed to fill the vacant place. The old Dean 
was very popular in College ; even the under- 
graduates, with whom he was seldom brought 
into contact, felt the magpie of his commandinsf 
personality and the charm of his gracious, old- 
world manner. He was a man whom, once seen, 
it was almost impossible to forget. 

Shortly before the resignation of Dr. Liddell, 
the Duchess of Albany spent a few days at the 
Deanery. Mr. Dodgson was asked to meet her 
Royal Highness at luncheon, but was unable to 
go. Princess Alice and the little Duke of Albany, 
however, paid him a visit, and were initiated in 
the art of making paper pistols. He promised to 
send the Princess a copy of a book called " The 
Fairies," and the children, having spent a happy 
half-hour in his rooms, returned to the Deanery. 
This was one of the days which he ''marked 
with a white stone." He sent a copy of " The 
Nursery ' Alice ' " to the little Princess Alice, and 
received a note of thanks from her, and also a 
letter from her mother, in which she said that the 
book had taught the Princess to like reading, and 



298 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to do it out of lesson-time. To the Duke he 
gave a copy of a book entitled " The Merry 
Elves." In his little note of thanks for this grift 
the boy said, "Alice and I want you to love us 
both." Mr. Dodgson sent Princess Alice a puzzle, 
promising that if she found it out, he would give 
her a "golden chair from Wonderland." 

At the close of the year he wrote me a long 
letter, which I think worthy of reproducing here, 
for he spent a long time over it, and it contains 
excellent examples of his clear way of putting 
things. 

To S. D. Collingwood. 

Ch. Ch., Oxford, Dec. 29, 1891. 

My dear Stuart, — (Rather a large note-sheet, isn't it? 
But they do differ in size, you know.) I fancy this book of 
science (which I have had a good while, without making any 
use of it), may prove of some use to you, with your boys. [I 
was a schoolmaster at that time.] Also this cycling-book (or 
whatever it is to be called) may be useful in putting down 
engagements, &c., besides telling you a lot about cycles. 
There was no use in sending it to me; my cycling days 
are over. 

You ask me if your last piece of " Meritt " printing is dark 
enough. I think not. I should say the rollers want fresh 
inking. As to the matter of your specimen — [it was a poor 
little essay on killing animals for the purpose of scientific 
recreations, e.g., collecting butterflies] — I think you cannot 
spend your time better than in trying to set down clearly, in 
that essay-form, your ideas on any subject that chances to 



LEWIS CARROLL 299 

interest you ; and specially any theological subject that strikes 
you in the course of your reading for Holy Orders. 

It will be most excellent practice for you, against the time 
when you try to compose sermons, to try thus to realise exactly 
what it is you mean, and to express it clearly, and (a much 
harder matter) to get into proper shape the reasons of your 
opinions, and to see whether they do, or do not, tend to prove 
the conclusions you come to. You have never studied technical 
Logic, at all, I fancy. [I had, but I freely admit that the essay 
in question proved that I had not then learnt to apply my 
principles to practice.] It would have been a great help : but 
still it is not indispensable : after all, it is only the putting into 
rules of the way in which every mind proceeds, when it draws 
valid conclusions ; and, by practice in careful thinking, you 
may get to know " fallacies " when you meet with them, 
without knowing the formal rules. 

At present, when you try to give reasons, you are in con- 
siderable danger of propounding fallacies. Instances occur in 
this little essay of yours ; and I hope it won't offend your 
amour propre very much, if an old uncle, who has studied 
Logic for forty years, makes a few remarks on it. 

I am not going to enter at all on the subject-matter itself, 
or to say whether I agree, or not, with your conclusions : but 
merely to examine, from a logic-lecturer's point of view, your 
premisses as relating to them. 

(i) "As the lower animals do not appear to have personality 
or individual existence, I cannot see that any particular one's 
life can be very important," &c. The word " personality " is 
very vague : I don't know what you mean by it. If you were 
to ask yourself, " What test should I use in distinguishing what 
has, from what has not, personality ? " you might perhaps be 
able to express your meaning more clearly. The phrase 
" individual existence " is clear enough, and is in direct logical 
contradiction to the phrase " particular one." To say, of 
anything, that it has not " individual existence," and yet that 



300 THE LIFE AXD LETTERS OF 

it is a " particular one," involves the logical fallacy called a 
"contradiction in terms." 

(2) "In both cases" (animal and plant) "death is only the 
conversion of matter from one form to another." The word 
" form " is very vague — I fancy you use it in a sort of chemical 
sense (like saying " sugar is starch in another form," where the 
change in nature is generally believed to be a rearrangement 
of the very same atoms). If you mean to assert that the 
difference between a live animal and a dead animal, i.e., 
between animate and sensitive matter, and the same matter 
when it becomes inanimate and insensitive, is a mere rearrange- 
ment of the same atoms, your premiss is intelligible. (It is a 
bolder one than any biologists have yet advanced. The most 
sceptical of them admits, I believe, that " vitality " is a thing 
per se. However, that is beside my present scope.) But this 
premiss is advanced to prove that it is of no " consequence " 
to kill an animal. But, granting that the conversion of sensi- 
tive into insensitive matter (and of course vice versa) is a mere 
change of " form," and therefore of no " consequence " ; 
granting this, we cannot escape the including under this rule 
all similar cases. If the foiver of feeling pain, and the absence 
of that power, are only a difference of " form," the conclusion 
is inevitable that the feeling pain, and the not feeling it, 
are also only a difference in form, i.e., to convert matter, 
which is not feeling pain, into matter feeling pain, is only to 
change its " form," and, if the process of " changing form " is 
of no "consequence" in the case of sensitive and insensitive 
matter, we must admit that it is also of no " consequence " in 
the case of pain-feeling and not pain-feeling matter. This 
conclusion, I imagine, you neither intended nor foresaw. The 
premiss, which you use, involves the fallacy called "proving 
too much." 

The best advice that could be given to you, when you 
begin to compose sermons, would be what an old friend once 
gave to a young man who was going out to be an Indian 



LEWIS CARROLL 301 

judge (in India, it seems, the judge decides things, without a 
jury, like our County Court judges). " Give your decisions 
boldly and clearly ; they will probably be right. But do not 
give your reasons : they will probably be wrong." If your lot in 
life is to be in a country parish, it will perhaps not matter much 
whether the reasons given in your sermons do or do not prove 
your conclusions. But even there you might meet, and in a 
town congregation you would be sure to meet, clever sceptics, 
who know well how to argue, who will detect your fallacies and 
point them out to those who are not yet troubled with doubts, 
and thus undermine all their confidence in your teaching. 

At Eastbourne, last summer, I heard a preacher advance the 
astounding argument, " We believe that the Bible is true, be- 
cause our holy Mother, the Church, tells us it is." I pity that 
unfortunate clergyman if ever he is bold enough to enter any 
Young Men's Debating Club where there is some clear-headed 
sceptic who has heard, or heard of, that sermon. I can fancy 
how the young man would rub his hands, in delight, and would 
say to himself, " Just see me get him into a corner, and convict 
him of arguing in a circle ! " 

The bad logic that occurs in many and many a well-meant 
sermon, is a real danger to modern Christianity. When 
detected, it may seriously injure many believers, and fill them 
with miserable doubts. So my advice to you, as a young theo- 
logical student, is " Sift your reasons well, and, before you offer 
them to others, make sure that they prove your conclusions." 

I hope you won't give this letter of mine (which it has cost 
me some time and thought to write) just a single reading 
and then burn it ; but that you will lay it aside. Perhaps, 
even years hence, it may be of some use to you to read it 
again. 

Believe me always 

Your affectionate Uncle, 

C. L. DODGSON. 



CHAPTER VIII 

(1892-1896) 

Mr. Dodgson resigns the Curatorship — Bazaars — He lectures 
to children — A mechanical " Humpty Dumpty " — A logi- 
cal controversy — Albert Chevalier — " Sylvie and Bruno 
Concluded " — " Pillow Problems " — Mr. Dodgson's gene- 
rosity — College services — Religious difficulties — A village 
sermon — Plans for the future — Reverence — " Symbolic 
Logic." 

AT Christ Church, as at other Colleges, 
the Common Room is an important 
feature. Open from eight in the morn- 
ing until ten at night, it takes the place of 
a club, where the " dons " may see the news- 
papers, talk, write letters, or enjoy a cup of 
tea. After dinner, members of High Table, 
with their guests if any are present, usually 
adjourn to the Common Room for wine and 
dessert, while there is a smoking-room hard by j 
for those who do not despise the harmless but | 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 303 

unnecessary weed, and below are cellars, with a 
goodly store of choice old wines. 

The Curator's duties were therefore sufficiently 
onerous. They were doubly so in Mr. Dodgson's 
case, for his love of minute accuracy greatly in- 
creased the amount of work he had to do. It was 
his office to select and purchase wines, to keep 
accounts, to adjust selling price to cost price, to 
see that the two Common Room servants per- 
formed their duties, and generally to look after 
the comfort and convenience of the members. 

" Having heard," he wrote near the end of the 
year 1892, " that Strong was willing to be elected 
(as Curator), and Common Room willing to elect 
him, I most gladly resigned. The sense of relief 
at being free from the burdensome office, which 
has cost me a large amount of time and trouble, 
is very delightful. I was made Curator, December 
8, 1882, so that I have held the office more than 
nine years." 

The literary results of his Curatorship were 
three very interesting little pamphlets, " Twelve 
Months in a Curatorship, by One who has tried 
it"; "Three years in a Curatorship, by One whom 
it has tried " ; and " Curiosissima Curatoria, by 
' Rude Donatus,' ' all printed for private circula- 



304 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

tion, and couched in the same serio-comic vein. 
As a logician he naturally liked to see his 
thoughts in print, for, just as the mathematical 
mind craves for a black-board and a piece of 
chalk, so the logical mind must have its paper 
and printing-press wherewith to set forth its 
deductions effectively. 

A few extracts must suffice to show the style of 
these pamphlets, and the opportunity offered for 
the display of humour. 

In the arrangement of the prices at which wines 
were to be sold to members of Common Room, 
he found a fine scope for the exercise of his mathe- 
matical talents and his sense of proportion. In 
one of the pamphlets he takes old Port and 
Chablis as illustrations. 

The original cost of each is about 3s. a bottle ; but the 
present value of the old Port is about iis. a bottle. Let 
us suppose, then, that we have to sell to Common Room 
one bottle of old Port and three of Chablis, the original cost 
of the whole being 12s., and the present value 20s. These 
are our data. We have now two questions to answer. First, 
what sum shall we ask for the whole? Secondly, how shall 
we apportion that sum between the two kinds of wine? 

The sum to be asked for the whole he decides, 
following precedent, is to be the present market- 



LEWIS CARROLL 305 

value of the wine ; as to the second question, he 
goes on to say — 

We have, as so often happens in the Uves of distinguished 
premiers, three courses before us: (i) to charge the present 
value for each kind of wine ; (2) to put on a certain percentage 
to the original value of each kind ; (3) to make a compromise 
between these two courses. 

Course i seems to me perfectly reasonable ; but a very 
plausible objection has been made to it — that it puts a pro- 
hibitory price on the valuable wines, and that they would 
remain uriconsumed. This would not, however, involve any 
loss to our finances ; we could obviously realise the enhanced 
values of the old wines by selling them to outsiders, if the 
members of Common Room would not buy them. But I 
do not advocate this course. 

Course 2 would lead to charging 5s. a bottle for Port 
and Chablis alike. The Port-drinker would be "in clover," 
while the Chablis-drinker would probably begin getting his 
wine direct from the merchant instead of from the Common 
Room cellar, which would be a rediictio ad absurdiim of the 
tariff. Yet I have heard this course advocated, repeatedly, as 
an abstract principle. "You ought to consider the original 
value only," I have been told. "You ought to regard the 
Port-drinker as a private individual, who has laid the wine in 
for himself, and who ought to have all the advantages of its 
enhanced value. You cannot fairly ask him for more than 
what you need to refill the bins with Port, plus the percentage 
thereon needed to meet the contingent expenses." I have 
listened to such arguments, but have never been convinced that 
the course is just. It seems to me that the 8s. additional value 
which the bottle of Port has acquired, is the property of 
Common Room, and that Common Room has the power to 
give it to whom it chooses; and it does not seem to me 



3o6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

fair to give it all to the Port-drinker. What merit is there 
in preferring Port to Chablis, that could justify our selling 
the Port-drinker his wine at less than half what he would 
have to give outside, and charging the Chablis-drinker five- 
thirds of what he would have to give outside ? At all events, 
I, as a Port-drinker, do not wish to absorb the whole advan- 
tage, and would gladly share it with the Chablis-drinker. The 
course I recommend is 

Course 3, which is a compromise between i and 2, its 
essential principle being to sell the new wines above their value, 
in order to be able to sell the old below their value. And it is 
clearly desirable, as far as possible, to make the reductions 
where they will be felt, and the additions where they will not 
be felt. Moreover it seems to me that reduction is most felt 
where it goes down to the next round sum, and an addition in 
the reverse case, i.e., when it starts from a round sum. Thus, 
if w^e were to take 2d. off a 5s. 8d. wine, and add it to a 4s. 4d. 
— thus selling them at 5s. 6d. and 4s. 6d. — the reduction would 
be welcomed, and the addition unnoticed; and the change 
would be a popular one. 

The next extract shows with what light- 
hearted frivoHty he could approach this tremen- 
dous subject of wine : — 

The consumption of Madeira (B) has been during the past 
year, zero. After careful calculation I estimate that, if this 
rate of consumption be steadily maintained, our present stock 
will last us an infinite number of years. And although there 
may be something monotonous and dreary in the prospect of 
such vast cycles spent in drinking second-class Madeira, we 
may yet cheer ourselves with the thought of how economically 
it can be done. 



LEWIS CARROLL 



307 



To assist the Curator in the discharg-e of his 
duties, there was a Wine Committee, and for its 
guidance a series of rules was drawn up. The 
first runs as follows : " There shall be a Wine 
Committee, consisting of five persons, including 
the Curator, whose duty it shall be to assist the 
Curator in the management of the cellar." 
" Hence," wrote Mr. Dodgson, " logically it is 
the bounden duty of the Curator ' to assist him- 
self I decline to say whether this clause has 
ever brightened existence for me — or whether, 
in the shades of evening, I may ever have been 
observed leaving the Common Room cellars with 
a small but suspicious-looking bundle, and mur- 
muring, ' Assist thyself, assist thyself ! ' " 

Every Christmas at Christ Church the children 
of the College servants have a party in the Hall. 
This year he was asked to entertain them, and 
gladly consented to do so. He hired a magic 
lantern and a large number of slides, and with 
their help told the children the three following 
stories : (i) " The Epiphany " ; (2) " The Children 
Lost in the Bush " ; (3) " Bruno's Picnic." 

I have already referred to the services held 
in Christ Church for the College servants, at 
which Mr. Dodgson used frequently to preach. 



3o8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The way in which he regarded this work is very- 
characteristic of the man. " Once more," he 
writes, " I have to thank my Heavenly Father 
for the great blessing and privilege of being 
allowed to speak for Him! May He bless my 
words to help some soul on its heavenward way." 
After one of these addresses he received a note 
from a member of the congregation, thanking 
him for what he had said. "It is very sweet," 
he said, " to get such words now and then ; but 
there is danger in them : if more such come, I 
must beg for silence." 

During the year Mr. Dodgson wrote the 
following letter to the Rev. C. A. Goodhart, 
Rector of Lambourne, Essex : — 

Dear Sir, — Your kind, sympathising and most encouraging 
letter about " Sylvie and Bruno" has deserved a better treatment 
from me than to have been thus kept waiting more than two 
years for an answer. But Hfe is short ; and one has many 
other things to do ; and I have been for years almost hope- 
lessly in arrears in correspondence. I keep a register, so 
that letters which I intend to answer do somehow come to the 
front at last. 

In " Sylvie and Bruno " I took courage to introduce what 
I had entirely avoided in the two " Alice " books — some 
reference to subjects which are, after all, the only subjects 
of real interest in Hfe, subjects which are so intimately bound 
up with every topic of human interest that it needs more 
effort to avoid them than to touch on them ; and I felt that 



LEWIS CARROLL 309 

such a book was more suitable to a clerical writer than one of 
mere fun. 

I hope I have not offended many (evidently I have not 
offended you) by putting scenes of mere fun, and talk about 
God, into the same book. 

Only one of all my correspondents ever guessed there was 
more to come of the book. She was a child, personally 
unknown to me, who wrote to '' Lewis Carroll " a sweet letter 
about the book, in which she said, " I'm so glad it hasn't got 
a regular wind-up, as it shows there is more to come ! " 

There is indeed "more to come." When I came to piece 
together the mass of accumulated material I found it was 
quite double what could be put into one volume. So I 
divided it in the middle ; and I hope to bring out " Sylvie 
and Bruno Concluded " next Christmas — if, that is, my 
Heavenly Master gives me the time and the strength for the 
task ; but I am nearly 60, and have no right to count on years 
to come. 

In signing my real name, let me beg you not to let the 
information go further — I have an intense dislike to personal 
publicity ; and, the more people there are who know nothing 
of " Lewis Carroll " save his books, the happier I am. 
Believe me, sincerely yours, 

Charles L. Dodgson. 

I have made no attempt to chronicle all the 
games and puzzles which Lewis Carroll invented. 
A list of such as have been published will 
be found in the Bibliographical chapter. He 
intended to brine out a book of " Original Games 
and Puzzles," with illustrations by Miss E, 
Gertrude Thomson. The MS. was, I believe, 



310 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

almost complete before his death, and one, at 
least, of the pictures had been drawn. On June 
30th he wrote in his Diary, " Invented what I 
think is a new kind of riddle. A Russian had 
three sons. The first, named Rab, became a 
lawyer ; the second, Ymra, became a soldier ; 
the third became a sailor. What was his name ? " 
The following letter written to a child-friend. 
Miss E. Drury, illustrates Lewis Carroll's hatred 
of bazaars : — 

Ch. Ch., Oxford, Nov. 10, 1892. 
My dear Emmie, — I object to all bazaars on the general 
principle that they are very undesirable schools for young 
ladies, in which they learn to be " too fast " and forward, and 
are more exposed to undesirable acquaintances than in ordi- 
nary society. And I have, besides that, special objections to 
bazaars connected with charitable or religious purposes. It 
seems to me that they desecrate the religious object by their 
undesirable features, and that they take the reality out of all 
charity by getting people to think that they are doing a good 
action, when their true motive is amusement for themselves. 
Ruskin has put all this far better than I can possibly do, and, 
if I can find the passage, and find the time to copy it, I will 
send it you. But time is a very scarce luxury for me ! 
Always yours affectionately, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

In his later years he used often to give lectures 
on various subjects to children. He gave a series 
on " Logic " at the Oxford Girls' High School, 



LEWIS CARROLL 311 

but he sometimes went further afield, as in the 
following instance : — 

Went, as arranged with Miss A. Ottley, to the High School 
at Worcester, on a visit. At half-past three I had an audience 
of about a hundred little girls, aged, I should think, from about 
six to fourteen. I showed them two arithmetic puzzles on the 
black-board, and told them " Bruno's Picnic." At half-past 
seven I addressed some serious words to a second audience of 
about a hundred elder girls, probably from fifteen to twenty — 
an experience of the deepest interest to me. 

The illustration on the next page will be 
best explained by the following letter which 
I have received from Mr. Walter Lindsay, of 
Philadelphia, U.S.:— 

Phila., September 12, 1898. 
Dear Sir, — I shall be very glad to furnish what informa- 
tion I can with respect to the " Mechanical Humpty Dumpty " 
which I constructed a few years ago, but I must begin by 
acknowledging that, in one sense at least, I did not " invent " 
the figure. The idea was first put into my head by an article 
in the Cosmopolitan, somewhere about 1891, I suppose, 
describing a similar contrivance. As a devoted admirer of 
the "Alice" books, I determined to build a Humpty Dumpty of 
my own ; but I left the model set by the author of the article 
mentioned, and constructed the figure on entirely different 
lines. In the first place, the figure as described in the maga- 
zine had very few movements, and not very satisfactory ones 
at that ; and in the second place, no attempt whatever was 
made to reproduce, even in a general way, the well-known 
appearance of Tenniel's drawing. 



312 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Humpty, when completed, was about two feet and a half 
high. His face, of course, was white; the lower half of the 
egg was dressed in brilliant blue. His stockings were grey, 
and the famous cravat orange, with a zigzag pattern in blue. 




THE MECHANICAl. " HU.Ml'TY UUMPTY. 
(From a photograph.) 

I am sorry to say that the photograph hardly does him justice ; 
but he had travelled to so many different places during his 
career, that he began to be decidedly out of shape before he 
sat for his portrait. 



\ 



LEWIS CARROLL 313 

When Humpty was about to perform, a short " talk " was 
usually given before the curtain rose, explaining the way in 
which the Sheep put the egg on the shelf at the back of the 
little shop, and how Alice went groping along to it. And 
then, just as the explanation had reached the opening of the 
chapter on Humpty Dumpty, the curtain rose, and Humpty 
was discovered, sitting on the wall, and gazing into vacancy. 
As soon as the audience had had time to recover, Alice 
entered, and the conversation was carried on just as it is in 
the book. Humpty Dumpty gesticulated with his arms, 
rolled his eyes, raised his eyebrows, frowned, turned up his 
nose in scorn at Alice's ignorance, and smiled from ear to ear 
when he shook hands with her. Besides this, his mouth kept 
time with his words all through the dialogue, which added very 
greatly to his life-like appearance. 

The effect of his huge face, as it changed from one ex- 
pression to another, was ludicrous in the extreme, and we 
were often obliged to repeat sentences in the conversation (to 
" go back to the last remark but one ") because the audience 
laughed so loudly over Humpty Dumpty's expression of face 
that they drowned what he was trying to say. The funniest 
effect was the change from the look of self-satisfied compla- 
cency with which he accompanied the words : " The king 

has promised me " to that of towering rage when Alice 

innocently betrays her knowledge of the secret. At the close 
of the scene, when Alice has vainly endeavoured to draw him 
into further conversation, and at last walks away in disgust, 
Humpty loses his balance on the wall, recovers himself, 
totters agam, and then falls off backwards ; at the same time 
a box full of broken glass is dropped on the floor behind the 
scenes, to represent the "heavy crash," which "shook the 
forest from end to end " ; — and the curtain falls. 

Now, as to how it was all done. Humpty was made of 
barrel hoops, and covered with stiff paper and muslin. His 
eyes were round balls of rags, covered with muslin, drawn 



314 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

smoothly, and with the pupil and iris marked on the front. 
These eyes were pivoted to a board, fastened just behind 
the eye-openings in the face. To the eyeballs were sewed 
strong pieces of tape, which passed through screw-eyes on the 
edges of the board, and so down to a row of levers which 
were hinged in the lower part of the figure. One lever raised 
both eyes upward, another moved them both to the left, and 
so on. The eyebrows were of worsted and indiarubber knitted 
together. They were fastened at the ends, and raised and 
lowered by fine white threads passing through small holes in 
the face, and also operated by levers. The arms projected 
into the interior of the machine, and the gestures were made 
by moving the short ends inside. The right hand contained a 
spring clothes-pin, by which he was enabled to hold the note- 
book in which Alice set down the celebrated problem — 

365 
I 

The movement of the mouth, in talking, was produced by 
a long tape, running down to a pedal, which was controlled 
by the foot of the performer. And the smile consisted of long 
strips of red tape, which were drawn out through slits at the 
corners of the mouth by means of threads which passed 
through holes in the sides of the head. The performer — who 
was always your humble servant — stood on a box behind the 
wall, his head just reaching the top of the egg, which was open 
all the way up the back. At the lower end of the figure, con- 
venient to the hands of the performer, was the row of levers, 
like a little keyboard ; and by striking different chords on the 
keys, any desired expression could be produced on the face. 

Of course, a performance of this kind without a good Alice 
would be unutterably flat ; but the little girl who played oppo- 
site to Humpty, Miss Nellie K , was so exactly the counter- 
part of Alice, both in appearance and disposition, that most 



LEWIS CARROLL 315 

children thought she was the original, right out of the 
book. 

Humpty still exists, but he has not seen active life for some 
years. His own popularity was the cause of his retirement ; 
for having given a number of performances (for Charity, of 
course), and delighted many thousands of children of all ages, 
the demands upon his time, from Sunday-schools and other 
institutions, became so numerous that the performers were 
obliged to withdraw him in self-defence. He was a great 
deal of trouble to build, but the success he met with and the 
pleasure he gave more than repaid me for the bother ; and I 
am sure that any one else who tries it will reach the same 
conclusion. Yours sincerely, 

Walter Lindsay. 

At the beginning of 1893 a fierce logical battle 
was being" waofed between Lewis Carroll and Mr. 
Cook Wilson, Professor of Logic at Oxford. The 
Professor, in spite of the countless arguments that 
Mr. Dodgrson hurled at his head, would not con- 
fess that he had committed a fallacy. 

On February 5th the Professor appears to have 
conceded a point, for Mr. Dodgson writes : 
" Heard from Cook Wilson, who has long 
declined to read a paper which I sent January 
1 2th, and which seems to me to prove the fallacy 
of a view of his about Hypotheticals. He now 
offers to read it, if / will study a proof he sent, 
that another problem of mine had contradictory 
da^a. I have accepted his offer, and studied and 



3i6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

answered his paper. So I now look forward 
hopefully to the result of his reading mine." 

The hopes which he entertained were doomed 
to be disappointed ; the controversy bore no 
fruits save a few pamphlets and an enormous 
amount of correspondence, and finally the two 
antagfonists had to aa^ree to differ. 

As a rule Mr. Dodgson was a stern opponent 
of music-halls and music-hall singers ; but he 
made one or two exceptions with regard to the 
latter. For Chevalier he had nothing but praise; 
he heard him at one of his recitals, for he never in 
his life entered a " Variety Theatre." I give the 
passage from his Diary : — 

Went to hear Mr. Albert Chevalier's Recital. I only knew 
of him as being now recognised as facile princeps among 
music-hall singers, and did not remember that I had seen him 
twice or oftener on the stage — first as "Mr. Hobbs" in "Little 
Lord Fauntleroy," and afterwards as a " horsy " young man in 
a matinee in which Violet Vanbrugh appeared. He was 
decidedly good as an actor ; but as a comic singer (with con- 
siderable powers of pathos as well) he is quite first-rate. His 
chief merit seems to be the earnestness with which he throws 
himself into the work. The songs (mostly his own writing) 
were quite inoffensive, and very funny. I am very glad to be 
able to think that his influence on public taste is towards 
refinement and purity. I liked best " The Future Mrs. 
'Awkins," with its taking tune, and " My Old Dutch," which 
revealed powers that, I should think, would come out grandly 



LEWIS CARROLL 31^ 

in Robsonian parts, such as "The Porter's Knot." "The 
Little Nipper " was also well worth hearing. 

Mr. Dodgson s views on Sunday Observance 
were old-fashioned, but he Hved up to them, and 
did not try to force them upon people with whose 
actions he had no concern. They were purely 
matters of "private opinion" with him. On 
October 2nd he wrote to Miss E. G. Thomson, 
who was illustrating" his "Three Sunsets" : — 



't3 



Would you kindly do no sketches, or photos, for me, on a 
Sunday ? It is, in my view (of course I don't condemn any 
one who differs from me) inconsistent with keeping the day 
holy. I do not hold it to be the Jewish " Sabbath," but I do 
hold it to be "the Lord's Day," and so to be made very dis- 
tinct from the other days. 

In December, the Logical controversy being 
over for a time, Mr. Dodgson invented a new 
problem to puzzle his mathematical friends with, 
which was called " The Monkey and Weight 
Problem." A rope is supposed to be hung over a 
wheel fixed to the roof of a building ; at one end 
of the rope a weight is fixed, which exactly 
counterbalances a monkey which is hanging on to 
the other end. Suppose that the monkey begins 
to climb the rope, what will be the result ? The 



3i8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

following extract from the Diary illustrates the 
several possible answers which may be given : — 

Got Professor Clifton's answer to the " Monkey and Weight 
Problem." It is very curious, the different views taken by 
good mathematicians. Price says the weight goes up, with 
increasing velocity ; Clifton (and Harcourt) that it goes tcp, at 
the same rate as the monkey ; while Sampson says that it goes 
down. 

On December 24th Mr. Dodgson received the 
first twelve copies of " Sylvie and Bruno Con- 
cluded," just about four years after the appearance 
of the first part of the story. In this second 
volume the two fairy children are as delightful as 
ever ; it also contains what I think most people 
will agree to be the most beautiful poem Lewis 
Carroll ever wrote, " Say, what is the spell, when 
her fledglings are cheeping ? " (p. 305). In the 
preface he pays a well-deserved compliment to 
Mr. Harry Furniss for his wonderfully clever pic- 
tures ; he also explains how the book was written, 
showing that many of the amusing remarks of 
Bruno had been uttered by real children. He 
makes allusion to two books, which only his death 
prevented him from finishing — " Original Games 
and Puzzles," and a paper on "Sport," viewed 
from the standpoint of the humanitarian. From 



LEWIS CARROLL 319 

a literary point of view the second volume of 
" Sylvie and Bruno " lacks unity ; a fairy tale is 
all very well, and a novel also is all very well, but 
the combination of the two is surely a mistake. 
However, the reader who cares more for the 
spirit than the letter will not notice this blemish ; 
to him "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded" will be 
interesting and helpful, as the revelation of a 
very beautiful personality. 

You have made everything turn out just as I should have 
chosen [writes a friend to whom he had sent a copy], and made 
right all that disappointed me in the first part. I have not 
only to thank you for writing an interesting book, but for 
writing a helpful one too. I am sure that " Sylvie and Bruno " 
has given me many thoughts that will help me all life through. 
One cannot know "Sylvie" without being the better for it. 
You may say that " Mister Sir " is not consciously meant to 
be yourself, but I cannot help feeling that he is. As 
" Mister Sir " talks, I hear your voice in every word. I 
think, perhaps, that is why I like the book so much. 

I have received an interesting letter from Mr. 
Furniss, bearing upon the subject of " Sylvie 
and Bruno," and Lewis Carroll's methods of 
work. The letter runs as follows : — 

I have illustrated stories of most of our leading authors, and 
I can safely say that Lewis Carroll was the only one who cared 
to understand the illustrations to his own book. He was the 



320 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

W. S. Gilbert for children, and, like Gilbert producing one of' 
his operas, Lewis Carroll took infinite pains to study every 
detail in producing his extraordinary and delightful books. 
Mr. Gilbert, as every one knows, has a model of the stage ; 
he puts up the scenery, draws every figure, moves them about 
just as he wishes the real actors to move about. Lewis Carroll 
was precisely the same. This, of course, led to a great deal 
of work and trouble, and made the illustrating of his books 
more a matter of artistic interest than of professional profit. 
I was seven years illustrating his last work, and during that 
time I had the pleasure of many an interesting meeting with 
the fascinating author, and I was quite repaid for the trouble 
I took, not only by his generous appreciation of my efforts, 
but by the liberal remuneration he gave for the work, and also 
by the charm of having intercourse with the interesting, if 
somewhat erratic genius. 

A book very different in character from "Sylvie 
and Bruno," but under the same well-known 
pseudonym, appeared about the same time. I 
refer to " Pillow Problems," the second part of 
the series entitled " Curiosa Mathematica." 

" Pillow Problems thought out during wakeful 
hours " is a collection of mathematical problems, 
which Mr. Dodgson solved while lying awake at 
nio-ht. A few there are to which the title is not 
strictly applicable, but all alike were worked out 
mentally before any diagram or word of the 
solution was committed to paper. 

The author says that his usual practice was to 



LEWIS CARROLL 321 

write down the answer first of all, and afterwards 
the question and its solution. His motive, he 
says, for publishing these problems was not from 
any desire to display his powers of mental cal- 
culation. Those who knew him will readily 
believe this, though they will hardly be inclined 
to accept his own modest estimate of those 
powers. 

Still the book was intended, not for the select 
few who can scale the mountain heights of 
advanced mathematics, but for the much larger 
class of ordinary mathematicians, and they at 
least will be able to appreciate the gifted author, 
and to wonder how he could follow so clearly in 
his head the mental diagrams and intricate cal- 
culations involved in some of these " Pillow 
Problems." 

His chief motive in publishing the book was 
to show how, by a little determination, the mind 
" can be made to concentrate itself on some 
intellectual subject (not necessarily mathematics), 
and thus banish those petty troubles and vexa- 
tions which most people experience, and which — 
unless the mind be otherwise occupied — will 
persist in invading the hours of night." And 
this remedy, as he shows, serves a higher purpose 



322 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

still. In a paragraph which deserves quoting at 
length, as it gives us a momentary glimpse of 
his refined and beautifial character, he says : — 

Perhaps I may venture for a moment to use a more serious 
tone, and to point out that there are mental troubles, much 
worse than mere worry, for which an absorbing object of 
thought may serve as a remedy There are sceptical thoughts, 
which seem for the moment to uproot the firmest faith : there 
are blasphemous thoughts, which dart unbidden into the most 
reverent souls : there are unholy thoughts, which torture with 
their hateful presence the fancy that would fain be pure. 
Against all these some real mental work is a most helpful ally. 
That " unclean spirit " of the parable, who brought back with 
him seven others more wicked than himself, only did so 
because he found the chamber " swept and garnished," and its 
owner sitting with folded hands. Had he found it all alive 
with the "busy hum " of active ivork, there would have been 
scant welcome for him and his seven ! 

It would have robbed the book of its true 
character if Lewis Carroll had attempted to 
improve on the work done in his head, and 
consequently we have the solutions exactly as he 
worked them out before setting them down on 
paper. Of the Problems themselves there is not 
much to be said here ; they are original, and 
some of them {e.o:, No. 52) expressed in a style 
peculiarly the author's own. The subjects in- 
cluded in their range are Arithmetic, Algebra, 



LEWIS CARROLL 323 

Pure Geometry (Plane), Trigonometry, Algebraic 
Geometry, and Differential Calculus ; and there 
is one Problem to which Mr. Dodgson says he 
"can proudly point,' in "Transcendental Pro- 
babilities," which is here oriven : "A bag- 
contains two counters, as to which nothinof is 
known except that each is either black or white. 
Ascertain their colour without taking them out of 
the bag." The answer is, " One is black and 
the other white." For the solution the reader 
is referred to the book itself, a study of which 
will well repay him, apart from the chance he 
may have of discovering some mistake, and the 
consequent joy thereat ! 

A few extracts from the Diary follow, written 
during the early part of 1894 • — 

Feb. 1st. — Dies notandus. As Ragg was reading Prayers, 
and Bayne and I were the only M.A.'s in the stalls, I tried 
the experiment of going to the lectern and reading the 
lesson. I did not hesitate much, but feel it too great a strain 
on the nerves to be tried often. Then I went to the Latin 
Chapel for Holy Communion. Only Paget (Dean) and Dr. 
Huntley came : so, for the first time in my recollection, it had 
to be given up. Then I returned to my rooms, and found in 
The Standard the very important communication from Glad- 
stone denying the rumour that he has decided upon resigning 
the Premiership, but admitting that, owing to failing powers, 
it may come at any moment. It will make a complete change 



324 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

in the position of politics ! Then I got, _ from Cook Wilson, 
what I have been so long trying for — an accepted transcript of 
the fallacious argument over which we have had an (apparently) 
endless fight. I think the end is near, now. 

Feb. ^tli. — -The idea occurred to me that it might be a 
pleasant variation in Backgammon to throw three dice, and 
choose any two of the three numbers. The average quality 
of the throws would be much raised. I reckon that the 
chance of " 6, 6 " would be about two and a half what it now 
is. It would also furnish a means, similar to giving points in 
billiards, for equalising players : the weaker might use three 
dice, the other using two. I think of calling it "Thirdie 
Backgammon." 

March 31s/. — Have just got printed, as a leaflet, "A Dis- 
puted Point in Logic "- — the point Professor Wilson and I 
have been arguing so long. This paper is wholly in his own 
words, and puts the point very clearly. I think of submitting 
it to all my logical friends. 

" A Disputed Point in Logic " appeared also, 
I believe, in Mind, July, 1894. 

This seems a fitting place in which to speak of 
a side of Mr. Dodgson's character of which he 
himself was naturally very reticent — his wonder- 
ful generosity. My own experience of him was of 
a man who was always ready to do one a kind- 
ness, even though it put him to great expense 
and inconvenience ; but of course I did not 
know, during his lifetime, that my experience of 
him was the same as that of all his other friends. 



LEWIS CARROLL 325 

The income from his books and other sources, 
which might have been spent in a life of luxury 
and selfishness, he distributed lavishly where he 
saw it was needed, and in order to do this he 
always lived in the most simple way. To make 
others happy was the Golden Rule of his life. 
On August 31st he wrote, in a letter to a friend, 
Miss Mary Brown : " And now what am I to tell 
you about myself .'* To say I am quite well 'goes 
without saying' with me. In fact, my life is so 
strangely free from all trial and trouble that I 
cannot doubt my own happiness is one of the 
talents entrusted to me to ' occupy ' with, till the 
Master shall return, by doing something to make 
other lives happy." 

In several instances, where friends in needy 
circumstances have written to him for loans of 
money, he has answered them, " I will not /end, 
but I will £-zz^e you the ^100 you ask for. To 
help child-friends who wanted to go on the stage, 
or to take up music as a profession, he has intro- 
duced them to leading actors and actresses, paid 
for them having lessons in singing from the best 
masters, sent round circulars to his numerous 
acquaintances begging them to patronise the first 
concert or recital. 



326 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF f 

. In writing his books he never attempted toi 
win popularity by acceding to the prejudices and ' 
frailties of the age — his one object was to make 
his books useful and helpful and ennobling. *! 
Like the great Master, in whose steps he so 
earnestly strove to follow, he "went about doing 
good." And one is glad to think that even his 
memory is being made to serve the same purpose. 
The " Alice " cots are a worthy sequel to his 
generous life. 

Even Mr. Dodgson, with all his boasted 
health, was not absolutely proof against disease, 
for on February 12, 1895, ^e writes : — 



i\ 



Tenth day of a rather bad attack of influenza of the ague 
type. Last night the fever rose to a great height, partly caused 
by a succession of five visitors. One, however, was of my own 
seeking — Dean Paget, to whom I was thankful to be able to 
tell all I have had in my mind for a year or more, as to our 
Chapel services not being as helpful as they could be made. 
■The chief fault is extreme rapidity. I long ago gave up the 
attempt to say the Confession at that pace ; and now I say it, 
and the Lord's Prayer, close together, and never hear a word 
of the Absolution. Also many of the Lessons are quite 
unedifying. 

On July nth he wrote to my brother on the 
subject of a paper about Eternal Punishment, 
which was to form the first of a series of essays 
on Relieious Difficulties : — 



LEWIS CARROLL 327 

I am sending you the article on "Eternal Punishment" as it 
is. There is plenty of matter for consideration, as to which 
I shall be glad to know your views. 

Also if there are other points, connected with religion, 
where you feel that perplexing difificulties exist, I should be 
glad to know of them in order to see whether I can see my 
way to saying anything helpful. 

But I had better add that I do not want to deal with any 
such difficulties, unless they tend to affect life. Speculative 
difficulties which do not affect conduct, and which come into 
collision with any of the principles which I intend to state 
as axioms, lie outside the scope of my book. These axioms 
are : — 

(i) Human conduct is capable of being right, and of being 
ivroiig. 

(2) I possess Free-Will, and am able to choose between 
right and wrong. 

(3) I have in some cases chosen wrong. 

(4) I am responsible for choosing wrong. 

(5) I am responsible to a person. 

(6) This person is perfectly good. 

I call them axioms, because I have no proofs to offer for 
them. There will probably be others, but these are all I can 
think of just now. 

The Rev. H. Hopley, Vicar of Westham, has 
sent me the following interesting account of a 
sermon Mr, Dodgson preached at his church : — 

In the autumn of 1895 the Vicar of Eastbourne was to 
have preached my Harvest Sermon at Westham, a village five 
miles away ; but something or other intervened, and in the 
middle of the week I learned he could not come. A mutual 



328 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

friend suggested my asking Mr. Dodgson, who was then in 
Eastbourne, to help me, and I went with him to his rooms. 
I was quite a stranger to Mr. Dodgson ; but knowing from 
hearsay how reluctant he usually was to preach, I apologised 
and explained my position — with Sunday so near at hand. 
After a moment's hesitation he consented, and in a most 
genial manner made me feel quite at ease as to the abrupt- 
ness of my petition. On the morrow he came over to my 
vicarage, and made friends with my daughters, teaching them 
some new manner of playing croquet [probably Castle Croquet], 
and writing out for them puzzles and anagrams that he had 
composed. 

The following letter was forwarded on the Saturday : — 

" 7, LusHiNGTON Road, Eastbourne, 

" September 26, 1895. 
" Dear Mr. Hopley, — I think you will excuse the liberty 
I am taking in asking you to give me some food after the 
service on Sunday, so that I may have no need to catch the 
train, but can walk back at leisure. This will save me from 
the worry of trying to conclude at an exact minute, and 
you, perhaps, from the trouble of finding short hymns, to save 
time. It will nol, I hope, cause your cook any trouble, as 
my regular rule here is cold dinner on Sundays. This not 
from any " Sabbatarian " theory, but from the wish to let our 
employes have the day wholly at their own disposal. 

" I beg Miss Hopley's acceptance of the enclosed papers — 
[puzzles and diagrams.] 

" Believe me, very truly yours, 

" C. L. Dodgson 



J 



On Sunday our grand old church was crowded, and, 
although our villagers are mostly agricultural labourers, yet 
they breathlessly listened to a sermon forty minutes long, and 



LEWIS CARROLL 329 

apparently took in every word of it. It was quite extempore, 
in very simple words, and illustrated by some delightful and 
most touching stories of children. I only wish there had been 
a shorthand-writer there. 

In the vestry after service, while he was signing his name 
in the Preachers' Book, a church officer handed him a bit of 
paper. " Mr. Dodgson, would you very kindly write your 
name on that?" "Sir!" drawing himself up sternly — "Sir, 
I never do that for any one " — and then, more kindly, " You 
see, if I did it for one, I must do it for all." 

An amusing incident in Mr. Dodgson's life is 
connected with the well-known drama, "Two 
Little Vagabonds." I give the story as he wrote 
it in his Diary : — 

Nov. 2W1. — Matinee at the Princess's of "Two Little 
Vagabonds," a very sensational melodrama, capitally acted. 
"Dick" and "Wally" were played by Kate Tyndall and 
Sydney Fairbrother, whom I guess to be about fifteen and 
twelve. Both were excellent, and the latter remarkable for 
the perfect realism of her acting. There was some beautiful 
religious dialogue between " Wally " and a hospital nurse — 
most reverently spoken, and reverently received by the 
audience. 

Dec. lytli. — I have given books to Kate Tyndall and 
Sydney Fairbrother, and have heard from them, and find I 
was entirely mistaken in taking them for children. Both are 
married women ! 

The following is an extract from a letter 
written in 1896 to one of his sisters, in allusion 



330 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to a death which had recently occurred in the 
family : — 

It is getting increasingly difificult now to remember which 
of one's friends remain alive, and which have gone " into the 
land of the great departed, into the silent land." Also, such 
news comes less and less as a shock, and more and more one 
realises that it is an experience each of us has to face before 
long. That fact is getting less dreamlike to me now, and I 
sometimes think what a grand thing it will be to be able to say 
to oneself, " Death is over now ; there is not that experience 
to be faced again." 

I am beginning to think that, if the books I am still hoping 
to write are to be done at all, they must be done now, and 
that I am meant thus to utilise the splendid health I have had, 
unbroken, for the last year and a half, and the working powers 
that are fully as great as, if not greater, than I have ever had. 
I brought with me here [this letter was written from East- 
bourne] the MS., such as it is (very fragmentary and un- 
arranged) for the book about religious difficulties, and I meant, 
when I came here, to devote myself to that, but I have changed 
my plan. It seems to me that that subject is one that 
hundreds of living men could do, if they would only try, much 
better than I could, whereas there is no living man who could 
(or at any rate who would take the trouble to) arrange and 
finish and publish the second part of the " Logic." Also, I 
have the Logic book in my head ; it will only need three or 
four months to write out, and I have not got the other book 
in my head, and it might take years to think out. So I have 
decided to get Part ii. finished first, and I am working at it 
day and night. I have taken to early rising, and sometimes sit 
down to my work before seven, and have one and a half hours 
at it before breakfast. The book will be a great novelty, and 
will help, I fully believe, to make the study of Logic /hr easier 



LEWIS CARROLL 331 

than it now is. And it will, I also believe, be a help to 
religious thought by giving clearness of conception and of 
expression, which may enable many people to face, and 
conquer, many religious difficulties for themselves. So I do 
really regard it as work for God 

Another letter, written a few months later to 
Miss Dora Abdy, deals with the subject of 
" Reverence," which Mr. Dodgson considered 
a virtue not held in sufficient esteem nowa- 
days ; — 

My dear Dora, — In correcting the proofs of "Through the 
Looking - Glass " (which is to have "An Easter Greeting" 
inserted at the end), I am reminded that in that letter (I 
enclose a copy), I had tried to express my thoughts on the 
very subject we talked about last night — the relation of laughter 
to religious thought. One of the hardest things in the world is 
to convey a meaning accurately from one mind to another, but 
the sort of meaning I want to convey to other minds is that 
while the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper 
life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. 
The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn 
things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities 
for exercising ivit. That is the spirit which has spoiled, for 
me, the beauty of some of the Bible. Surely there is a deep 
meaning in our prayer, " Give us an heart to love and dread 
Thee." We do not mean terror : but a dread that will har- 
monise with love ; " respect " we should call it as towards 
a human being, " reverence " as towards God and all religious 
things. 

Yours affectionately, 

C. L. Dodgson. 



332 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

In his " Game of Loo"ic " Lewis Carroll intro- 
duced an orio^inal method of working^ loofical 
problems by means of diagrams ; this method he 
superseded in after years for a much simpler one, 
the method of " Subscripts." 

In " Symbolic Logic, Part i." (London : 
Macmillan, 1896) he employed both methods. 
The Introduction is specially addressed "to 
Learners," whom Lewis Carroll advises to read 
the book straight through, without dipping. 

This Rule [he says] is very desirable with other kinds of 
books- — such as novels, for instance, where you may easily 
spoil much of the enjoyment you would otherwise get from the 
story by dipping into it further on, so that what the author 
meant to be a pleasant surprise comes to you as a matter of 
course. Some people, I know, make a practice of looking into 
vol. iii. first, just to see how the story ends ; and perhaps it is 
as well just to know that all ends happily — that the much- 
persecuted lovers do marry after all, that he is proved to be 
quite innocent of the murder, that the wicked cousin is com- 
pletely foiled in his plot, and gets the punishment he deserves, 
and that the rich uncle in India {Qu. Why in India ? Ans. 
Because, somehow, uncles never can get rich anywhere else) 
dies at exactly the right moment — before taking the trouble to 
read vol i. This, I say, is just permissible with a novel, 
where vol. iii. has a meaning, even for those who have not read 
the earlier part of the story ; but with a scientific book, it 
is sheer insanity. You will find the latter part hopelessly 
unintelligible, if you read it before reaching it in regular 
course. 



CHAPTER IX 

(1897, 1898) 

Logic-lectures — Irreverent anecdotes — Tolerance of his religious 
views — A mathematical discovery — -"The Little Minister" 
— Sir George Baden-Powell — Last illness — " Thy will be 
done " — " Wonderland " at last ! — Letters from friends — 
"Three Sunsets " — " Of such is the kingdom of Heaven." 

THE year 1897, the last complete year which 
he was destined to spend, began for Mr. 
Dodgson at Guildford. On January 3rd 
he preached in the morning at the beautiful old 
church of S. Mary's, the church which he always 
attended when he was staying with his sisters at 
the Chestnuts. 

On the 5th he began a course of Logic 
Lectures at Abbot's Hospital. The Rev. A. 
Kingston, late curate of Holy Trinity and 
S. Mary's Parishes, Guildford, had requested 
him to do this, and he had given his promise 

if as many as six people could be got together to 

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THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 335 

hear him. Mr. Kingston canvassed the town so 
well that an audience of about thirty attended the 
first lecture. 

A long Sunday walk was always a feature 
of Mr. Dodgson's life in the vacations. In earlier 
years the late Mr. W. Watson was his usual 
companion at Guildford. The two men were in 
some respects very much alike ; a peculiar 
gentleness of character, a winning charm of 
manner which no one could resist, distinguished 
them both. After Mr. Watson's death his com- 
panion was usually one of the following Guildford 
clergymen : the Rev. J. H. Robson, LL.D., the 
Rev. H. R. Ware, and the Rev. A. Kinofston. 

On the 26th Mr. Dodgson paid a visit to the 
Girls' High School, to show the pupils some 
mathematical puzzles, and to teach the elder ones 
his " Memoria Technica." On the 28th he returned 
to Oxford, so as to be up in time for term. 

I have said that he always refused invitations 
to dinner ; accordingly his friends who knew of 
this peculiarity, and wished to secure him for a 
special evening, dared not actually invite him, 
but wrote him little notes statino- that on such and 
such days they would be dining at home. Thus 
there is an entry in his Journal for February loth : 



336 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

" Dined with Mrs. G (She had not sent an 

^ invitation ' — only ' information.')." 

His system of symboHc logic enabled him to 
work out the most complex problems with absolute 
certainty in a surprisingly short time. Thus he 
wrote on the 15th: "Made a splendid logic- 
problem, about " great-grandsons " (modelled on 
one by De Morgan). My method of solution is 
quite new, and I greatly doubt if any one will solve 
the Problem. I have sent it to Cook Wilson." 

On March 7th he preached in the University 
Church, the first occasion on which he had done 
so : — 

There is now [he writes] a system established of a course of 
six sermons at S. Mary's each year, for University men only, 
and specially meant for undergraduates. They are preached, 
preceded by a few prayers and a hymn, at half-past eight. This 
evening ended the course for this term : and it was my great 
privilege to preach. It has been the most formidable sermon 
I have ever had to preach, and it is a great relief to have it 
over. I took, as text. Job xxviii. 28, " And unto man he said, 
The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom " — and the prayer in the 
Litany " Give us an heart to love and dread thee." It lasted 
three-quarters of an hour. 

One can imagine how he would have treated 
the subject. The views which he held on the 
subject of reverence were, so at least it appears 



LEWIS CARROLL 337 

to me, somewhat exaggerated ; they are well 
expressed in a letter which he wrote to a friend 
of his, during the year, and which runs as 
follows : — 



Dear , — After changing my mind several times, I have 

at last decided to venture to ask a favour of you, and to trust 
that you will not misinterpret my motives in doing so. 

The favour I would ask is, that you will not tell me any 
more stories, such as you did on Friday, of remarks which 
children are said to have made on very sacred subjects — 
remarks which most people would recognise as irreverent, if 
made by grown-up people, but which are assumed to be 
innocent when made by children who are unconscious of any 
irreverence, the strange conclusion being drawn that they are 
therefore innocent when repeated by a grown-up person. 

The misinterpretation I would guard against is, your sup- 
posing that I regard such repetition as always wrong in any 
grown-up person. Let me assure you that I do not so regard 
it. I am always willing to believe that those who repeat such 
stories differ wholly from myself in their views of what is, and 
what is not, fitting treatment of sacred things, and I fully 
recognise that what would certainly be wrong in me, is not 
necessarily so in them. 

So I simply ask it as a personal favour to myself. The 
hearing of that anecdote gave me so much pain, and spoiled so 
much the pleasure of my tiny dinner-party, that I feel sure you 
will kindly spare me such in future. 

One further remark. There are quantities of such anecdotes 
going about. I don't in the least believe that 5 per cent, of 
them were ever said by children. I feel sure that most of them 
are concocted by people who ivish to bring sacred subjects into 
ridicule — sometimes by people who ivisJi to undermine the belief 



338 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

that others have in religious truths : for there is no surer way 
of making one's beUefs unreal than by learning to associate 
them with ludicrous ideas. 

Forgive the freedom with which I have said all this. 

Sincerely yours, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The entry in the Diary for April i ith (Sunday) 
is interesting : — 

Went my eighteen-mile round by Besilsleigh. From my 
rooms back to them again, took me five hours and twenty-seven 
minutes. Had " high tea " at twenty minutes past seven. This 
entails only leaving a plate of cold meat, and gives much less 
trouble than hot dinner at six. 

Dinner at six has been my rule since January 31st, when it 
began — I then abandoned the seven o'clock Sunday dinner, of 
which I entirely disapprove. It has prevented, for two terms, 
the College Servants' Service. 

On May 12th he wrote : — - 

As the Prince of Wales comes this afternoon to open the 
Town Hall, I went round to the Deanery to invite them to, 
come through my rooms upon the roof, to see the processiork. 
arrive. ... A party of about twenty were on my roof in thq 
afternoon, including Mrs. Moberly, Mrs. Driver, and Mrs, 
Baynes, and most, if not all, of the children in Christ Church. 
Dinner in Hall at eight. The Dean had the Prince on his 
right, and Lord Salisbury on his left. My place was almost 
vis-a-vis with the Prince. He and the Dean were the only 
speakers. We did not get out of Hall till nearly ten. 



In June he bought a " Whiteley Exerciser," 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 339 

and fixed it up in his rooms. One would have 
thought that he would have found his long walks 
sufficient exercise (an eighteen-mile round was, as 
we have seen, no unusual thing for him to under- 
take), but apparently it was not so. He was so 
pleased with the " Exerciser," that he bought 
several more of them, and made presents of them 
to his friends. 

As an instance of his broad-mindedness, the 
following extract from his Diary for June 20th is 

interesting. It must be premised that E was 

a young friend of his who had recently become a 
member of the Roman Catholic Church, and that 
their place of worship in Oxford is dedicated to 
S. Aloysius. 

I went with E to S. Aloysius. There was much beauty 

in the service, part of which consisted in a procession, with 
banner, all round the church, carrying the Host, preceded by 
a number of girls in white, with veils (who had all had their first 
communion that morning), strewing flowers. Many of them 
were quite little things of about seven. The sermon (by 
Father Richardson) was good and interesting, and in a very 
loyal tone about the Queen. 

A letter he wrote some years before to a friend 
who had asked him about his religious opinions 
reveals the same catholicity of mind : — 



340 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

I am a member of the English Church, and have taken 
Deacon's Orders, but did not think fit (for reasons I need not 
go into) to take Priest's Orders. My dear father was what is 
called a " High Churchman," and I naturally adopted those 
views, but have always felt repelled by the yet higher develop- 
ment called " Ritualism." 

But I doubt if I am fully a " High Churchman " now. I 
find that as life slips away (I am over fifty now), and the life 
on the other side of the great river becomes more and more 
the reality, of which this is only a shadow, that the petty dis- 
tinctions of the many creeds of Christendom tend to slip away 
as well — leaving only the great truths which all Christians 
believe alike. More and more, as I read of the Christian 
religion, as Christ preached it, I stand amazed at the forms 
men have given to it, and the fictitious barriers they have built 
up between themselves and their brethren. I believe that 
when you and I come to lie down for the last time, if only we 
can keep firm hold of the great truths Christ taught us — our 
own utter worthlessness and His infinite worth ; and that He 
has brought us back to our one Father, and made us His 
brethren, and so brethren to one another — we shall have all 
we need to guide us through the shadows. 

Most assuredly I accept to the full the doctrines you refer 
to — that Christ died to save us, that we have no other way of 
salvation open to us but through His death, and that it is by 
faith in Him, and through no merit of ours, that we are recon- 
ciled to God ; and most assuredly I can cordially say, " I owe 
all to Him who loved me, and died on the Cross of Calvary." 

He spent the Long Vacation at Eastbourne as 
usual, frequently walking over to Hastings, which 
is about twenty miles off. A good many of his 
mornings were spent in giving lectures and telling 
stories at schools. 



LEWIS CARROLL 341 

A letter to the widow of an old colleg-e friend 
reveals the extraordinary sensitiveness of his 
nature : — 

2, Bedford Well Road, Eastbourne, 

August 2, 1897. 

My dear Mrs. Woodhouse, — Your letter, with its mourn- 
ful news, followed me down here, and I only got it on Satur- 
day night ; so I was not able to be with you in thought when 
the mortal remains of my dear old friend were being com- 
mitted to the ground ; to await the time when our Heavenly 
Father shall have accomplished the number of His elect, and 
when you and I shall once more meet the loved ones from 
whom we are, for a little while only — what a little while even 
a long human life lasts ! — parted in sorrow, yet not sorrowing 
as those without hope. 

You will be sure without words of mine, that you have my 
true and deep sympathy. Of all the friends I made at Ch. 
Ch., your husband was the very first who spoke to me — across 
the dinner-table in Hall. That is forty-six years ago, but I 
remember, as if it were only yesterday, the kindly smile with 
which he spoke. , . . 

September 27th and 28th are marked in his 
Diary " with a white stone " : — 

Sept. 2'jth. — Dies notandus. Discovered rule for dividing a 
number by 9, by mere addition and subtraction. I felt sure 
there must be an analogous one for 11, and found it, and 
proved first rule by algebra, after working about nine 
hours ! 

Sept. 28th. — Dies cretd notandus. I have actually super- 
seded the rules discovered yesterday ! My new rules require 
to ascertain the 9-remainder, and the 11 -remainder, which 



342 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the others did not require ; but the new ones are much the 
quickest. I shall send them to The Educational Times, with 
date of discovery. 

On November 4th he wrote : — 

Completed a rule for dividing a given number by any 
divisor that is within 10 of a power of 10, either way. The 
principle of it is not my discovery, but was sent me by Bertram 
Collingwood — a rule for dividing by a divisor which is within 
10 of a power of 10, beloio it. 

My readers will not be surprised to learn that 
only eight days after this he had superseded his 
rule : — 

An inventive morning ! After waking, and before I had 
finished dressing, I had devised a new and much neater form 
in which to work my Rules for Long Division, and also decided 
to bring out my " Games and Puzzles," and Part iii. of 
"Curiosa Math'ematica," in Numbers, in paper covers, paged 
consecutively, to be ultimately issued in boards. 

On November 20th he spent the day in 
London, with the object of seeing " The Litde 
Minister " at the Haymarket " A beautiful 
play, beautifully acted," he calls it, and says 
that he should like to see it "again and again." 
He especially admired the acting of Mrs. Cyril 
Maude (Miss Winifred Emery) as Lady Babbie 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 343 

This was the last theatrical performance he ever 
witnessed. 

He apparently kept rough notes for his Diary, 
and only wrote it up every few weeks, as there 
are no entries at all for 1898, nor even for the 
last week of 1897. The concluding page runs 
as follows : — 

Dec. (ir.) 10 a.m. — I am in my large room, with no fire, 
and open window — temperature 54°. 

Dec. 17 (F.). — Maggie [one of his sisters], and our nieces 
Nella and Violet, came to dinner. 

Dec. 19 (Sun.). — Sat up last night till 4 a.m., over a tempting 
problem, sent me from New York, " to find 3 equal rational- 
sided rt. -angled a's." I found two, whose sides are 20, 21, 29; 
12, 35, 37 ; but could not find three. 

Dec. 23 (Th.). — I start for Guildford by the 2.7 to-day. 

As my story of Lewis Carroll's life draws near 
its end, I have received some " Stray Reminis- 
cences " from Sir George Baden-Powell, M.P., 
which, as they refer to several different periods of 
time, are as appropriate here as in any other part of 
the book. The Rev. E. H. Dodgson, referred to in 
these reminiscences, is a younger brother of Lewis 
Carroll's ; he spent several years of his life upon 
the remote island of Tristan d' Acunha, where there 
were only about seventy or eighty inhabitants 
besides himself About once a year a ship used 



344 T^HE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to call, when the island-folk would exchange their 
cattle for cloth, corn, tea, &c., which they could 
not produce themselves. The island is volcanic 
in origin, and is exposed to the most terrific gales ; 
the buildinof used as a church stood at some dis- 
tance from Mr. Dodgson s dwelling, and on one 
occasion the wind was so strong that he had to 
crawl on his hands and knees for the whole dis- 
tance that separated the two buildings. 

My first introduction [writes Sir George Baden-Powell] to 
the author of " Through the Looking-Glass " was about the 
year 1870 or 1871, and under appropriate conditions! I 
was then coaching at Oxford with the well-known Rev. E. Hatch, 
and was on friendly terms with his bright and pretty children. 
Entering his house one day, and facing the dining-room, I 
heard mysterious noises under the table, and saw the cloth 
move as if some one were hiding. Children's legs revealed it 
as no burglar, and there was nothing for it but to crawl upon 
them, roaring as a lion. Bursting in upon them in their strong- 
hold under the table, I was met by the staid but amused gaze 
of a reverend gentleman. Frequently afterwards did I see and 
hear " Lewis Carroll " entertaining the youngsters in his 
inimitable way. 

We became friends, and greatly did I enjoy intercourse with 
him over various minor Oxford matters. In later years, at one 
time I saw much of him, in quite another role — namely that 
of ardent sympathy with the, as he thought, ill-treated and 
deserted islanders of Tristan d'Acunha. His brother, it will 
be remembered, had voluntarily been left at that island with a 
view to ministering to the spiritual and educational needs of 
the few settlers, and sent home such graphic accounts and 



LEWIS CARROLL 345 

urgent demands for aid, that " Lewis Carroll " spared no pains 
to organise assistance and relief. At his instance I brought 
the matter before Government and the House of Commons^ 
and from that day to this frequent communication has been 
held with the islanders, and material assistance has been 
rendered them — thanks to the warm heart of " Lewis Carroll." 



On December 23, 1897, ^^ ^^e note in his 
Diary states, he went down, in accordance with 
his usual custom, to Guildford, to spend Christ- 
mas with his sisters at the Chestnuts. He seemed 
to be in his ordinary health, and in the best of 
spirits, and there was nothing to show that the 
end was so near. 

At Guildford he was hard at work upon the 
second part of his "Symbolic Logic," spending 
most of the day over this task. This book, alas ! 
he was not destined to finish, which is the more 
to be regretted as it will be exceedingly difficult 
for any one else to take up the thread of the 
argument, even if any one could be found willing 
to give the great amount of time and trouble 
which would be needed. 

On January 5th my father, the Rev. C. S. 
Collingwood, Rector of Southwick, near Sunder- 
land, died after a very short illness. The 
telegram which brought Mr. Dodgson the news 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 347 

of this contained the request that he would 
come at once. He determined to travel north 
the next day — but it was not to be so. An 
attack of intiuenza, which began only with 
slight hoarseness, yet enough to prevent him 
from following his usual habit of reading 
family prayers, was pronounced next morning to 
be sufficiently serious to forbid his undertaking a 
journey. At first his illness seemed a trifle, but 
before a week had passed bronchial symptoms 
had developed, and Dr. Gabb, the family physician, 
ordered him to keep his bed. His breathing 
rapidly became hard and laborious, and he had 
to be propped up with pillows. A few days 
before his death he asked one of his sisters to 
read him that well-known hymn, every verse of 
which ends with '' Thy Will be done. ' To 
another he said that his illness was a great trial 
of his patience. How great a trial it must have 
been it is hard for us to understand With the 
work he had set himself still uncompleted, with a 
sense of youth and joyousness, which sixty years 
of the battle of life had in no way dulled, Lewis 
Carroll had to face death. He seemed to know 
that the struggle was over. " Take away those 
pillows," he said on the 13th, " I shall need them 



348 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

no more." The end came about half- past two on 
the afternoon of the 14th. One of his sisters was 
in the room at the time, and she only noticed that 
the hard breathing suddenly ceased. The nurse, 
whom she summoned, at first hoped that this 
was a sign that he had taken a turn for the 
better. And so, indeed, he had — he had passed 
from a world of incompleteness and disappoint- 
ment, to another where God is putting his 
beautiful soul to nobler and grander 'work than 
was possible for him here, where he is learning 
to comprehend those difficulties which used to 
puzzle him so much, and where that infinite Love, 
which he mirrored so wonderfully in his own life, 
is being revealed to him " face to face." 

In accordance with his expressed wish, the 
funeral was simple in the extreme — flowers, and 
flowers only, adorned the plain coffin. There 
was no hearse to drag it up the steep incline that 
leads to the beautiful cemetery where he lies. 
The service was taken by Dean Paget and Canon 
Grant, Rector of Holy Trinity and S. Mary's, 
Guildford. The mourners who followed him in 
the quiet procession were few — but the mourners 
who were not there, and many of whom had 
never seen him — who shall tell ^^ezr number ? 



LEWIS CARROLL 349 

After the grave had been filled up, the wreaths 
which had covered the coffin were placed upon it. 
Many were from " child-friends " and bore such 
inscriptions as '* From two of his child-friends " 
— "To the sweetest soul that ever looked with 
human eyes," &c. Then the mourners left him 
alone there — up on the pleasant downs where 
he had so often walked. 

A marble cross, under the shadow of a pine, 
marks the spot, and beneath his own name they 
have engraved the name of " Lewis Carroll," that 
the children who pass by may remember their 
friend, who is now — ^himself a child in all that 
makes childhood most attractive — in that " Won- 
derland " which outstrips all our dreams and 
hopes. 

I cannot forbear quoting from Professor Sanday's 
sermon at Christ Church on the Sunday after 
his death : — 

The world will think of Lewis Carroll as one who opened out 
a new vein in literature, a new and a delightful vein, which 
added at once mirth and refinement to life. . . . May we 
not say that from our courts at Christ Church there has flowed 
into the literature of our time a rill, bright and sparkling, 
health-giving and purifying, wherever its waters extend ? 

On the following Sunday Dean Paget, in the 




LEWIS CARROLL'S GRAVE. 

(From a photograph.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 351 

course of a sermon on the " Virtue of Sim- 
plicity," said : — 

We may differ, according to our difference of taste or 
temperament, in appraising Charles Dodgson's genius ; but 
that that great gift was his, that his best work ranks with the 
very best of its kind, this has been owned with a recognition 
too wide and spontaneous to leave room for doubt. The 
brilliant, venturesome imagination, defying forecast with ever- 
fresh surprise; the sense of humour in its finest and most 
naive form ; the power to touch with lightest hand the under- 
current of pathos in the midst of fun ; the audacity of creative 
fancy, and the delicacy of insight — these are rare gifts ; and 
surely they w^ere his. Yes, but it was his simplicity of mind 
and heart that raised them all, not only in his work but in his 
life, in all his ways, in the man as we knew him, to something 
higher than any mere enumeration of them tells : that almost 
curious simplicity, at times, that real and touching child- 
likeness that marked him in all fields of thought, appearing in 
his love of children and in their love of him, in his dread of 
giving pain to any living creature, in a certain disproportion, 
now and then, of the view he took of things — yes, and also in 
that deepest life, where the pure in heart and those who 
become as little children see the very truth and walk in the 
fear and love of God. 

Some extracts from the numerous sympathetic 
letters received by Mr. Dodgson's brothers and 
sisters will show how greatly his loss was felt. 
Thus Canon Jelf writes : — 

It was quite a shock to me to see in the paper to-day the 
death of your dear, good brother, to whom we owe so much 



352 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of the brightening of our lives with pure, innocent fun. 
Personally I feel his loss very much indeed. We were 
together in old Ch. Ch. days from 1852 onwards; and he 
was always such a loyal, faithful friend to me. I rejoice to 
think of the serious talks we had together — of the grand, brave 
way in which he used the opportunities he had as a man of 
humour, to reach the consciences of a host of readers — of his 
love for children — his simplicity of heart — of his care for 
servants — his spiritual care for them. Who can doubt that he 
was fully prepared for a change however sudden — for the one 
clear call which took him away from us ? Yet the world 
seems darker for his going ; we can only get back our bright- 
ness by realising Who gave him all his talent, all his mirth of 
heart — the One who never leaves us. In deep sympathy. 
Yours very sincerely, 

George E. Jelf. 
P.S. — When you have time tell me a little about him ; he 
was so dear to me. 

Mr. Frederic Harrison writes as follows : — 

The occasional visits that I received from your late brother 
showed me a side of his nature which to my mind was more 
interesting and more worthy of remembrance even than his 
wonderful and delightful humour — I mean his intense sym- 
pathy with all who suffer and are in need. 

He came to see me several times on sundry errands of 
mercy, and it has been a lesson to me through life to remember 
his zeal to help others in difficulty, his boundless generosity, 
and his inexhaustible patience with folly and error. 

My young daughter, like all young people in civilised 
countries, was brought up on his beautiful fancies and 
humours. But for my part I remember him mainly as a sort 
of missionary to all in need. We all alike grieve, and offer you 
our heartfelt sympathy. I am, faithfully yours, 

Frederic Harrison. 



LEWIS CARROLL 353 

His old friend and tutor, Dr. Price, writes : — 

... I feel his removal from among us as the loss of an 
old and dear friend and pupil, to whom I have been most 
warmly attached ever since he was with me at Whitby, reading 
mathematics, in, I think, 1853 — 44 years ago ! And 44 years 
of uninterrupted friendship. ... I was pleased to read yes- 
terday in TJie Times newspaper the kindly obituary notice : 
perfectly just and true ; appreciative, as it should be, as to the 
unusual combination of deep mathematical ability and taste 
with the genius that led to the writing of " Alice's Adven- 
tures." 

Only the other day [writes a lady friend] he wrote to me 
about his admiration for my dear husband, and he ended his 
letter thus : "I trust that when my time comes, I may be 
found, like him, working to the last, and ready for the 
Master's call " — and truly so he was. 

A friend at Oxford writes : — 

Mr. Dodgson was ever the kindest and gentlest of friends, 
bringing sunshine into the house with him. We shall mourn 
his loss deeply, and my two girls are quite overcome with 
grief. All day memories of countless acts of kindness shown 
to me, and to people I have known, have crowded my mind, 
and I feel it almost impossible to realise that he has passed 
beyond the reach of our gratitude and affection. 

The following are extracts from letters written 
by some of his "child-friends," now grown up : — 

How beautiful to think of the track of light and love he 
has left behind him, and the amount of happiness he brought 



354 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



m 



into the lives of all those he came in contact with! I shall 
never forget all his kindness to us, from the time he first met 
us as little mites in the railway train, and one feels glad to 
have had the privilege of knowing him. 

One of Mr. Dodo"son's oldest "child-friends" 

O 

writes : — 



He was to me a dear and true friend, and it has been my 
great privilege to see a good deal of him ever since I was a 
tiny child, and especially during the last two years. I cannot 
tell you how much we shall miss him here. Ch. Ch. without 
Mr. Dodgson will be a strange place, and it is difficult to 
realise it even while we listen to the special solemn anthems 
and hymns to his memory in our cathedral. 

One who had visited him at Guildford, writes : — 



\ 



«l 



It must be quite sixteen years now since he first made~ 
friends with my sister and myself as children on the beach at 
Eastbourne, and since then his friendship has been and must 
always be one of my most valued possessions. It culminated, 
I think, in the summer of 1892 — the year when he brought 
me to spend a very happy Sunday at Guildford. I had not 
seen him before, that year, for some time; and it was then,' 
I think, that the childish delight in his kindness, and pride in 
his friendship, changed into higher love and reverence, when 
in our long walks over the downs I saw more and more into 
the great tenderness and gentleness of his nature. 

Shortly after Mr. Dodgson's death, his " Three 
Sunsets " was published by Messrs. Macmillan. 
The twelve " Fairy Fancies," which illustrate it^ 



LEWIS CARROLL 355 

were drawn by Miss E. G. Thomson. Though 
they are entirely unconnected with the text, they 
are so thoroughly in accordance with the author's 
delicate refinement, and so beautiful in them- 
selves, that they do not strike one as inappro- 
priate. 

Some of the verses are strangely in keeping 
with the time at which they are published. 

I could not see, for blinding tears, 

The glories of the west : 
A heavenly music filled my ears, 

A heavenly peace my breast. 
" Come unto me, come unto me — 
All ye that labour, unto me — 
Ye heavy-laden, come to me — 

And I will give you rest." 

One cannot read this little volume without 
feeling that the shadow of some disappointment 
lay over Lewis Carroll's life. Such I believe 
to have been the case, and it was this that gave 
him his wonderful sympathy with all who 
suffered. But those who loved him would not 
wish to lift the veil from these dead sanctities, 
nor would any purpose be served by so doing. 
The proper use of sympathy is not to weep over 
sorrows that are over, and whose very memory 



356 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

is perhaps obliterated for him in the first joy of J 
possessing new and higher facuhies. 

Before leaving the subject of this book, I 
should like to draw attention to a few lines on 
"woman's mission," lines full of the noblest 
chivalry, reminding one of Tennyson's " Idylls 
of the King " : — 

In the darkest path of man's despair. 
Where War and Terror shake the troubled earth, 
Lies woman's mission ; with unblenching brow 
To pass through scenes of horror and affright 
Where men grow sick and tremble : unto her 
All things are sanctified, for all are good. 
Nothing so mean, but shall deserve her care : 
Nothing so great, but she may bear her part. 
No life is vain : each hath his place assigned : 
Do thou thy task, and leave the rest to God. 

Of the unpublished works which Mr. Dodgson 
left behind him, I may mention "Original Games 
and Puzzles"; "Symbolic Logic, Part ii.," and 
a portion of a mathematical book, the proofs 
of which are now in the hands of the Controller 
of the Oxford University Press. 

I will conclude this chapter with a poem which 
appeared in Punch for January 29th, a fortnight 
after Lewis Carroll's death. It expresses, with 
all the grace and insight of the true poet, what 



LEWIS CARROLL 357 

I have tried, so feebly and ineffectually, to 
say : — 

LEWIS CARROLL. 
Bo/n 1832. Died January 14, 1898. 

Lover of children ! Fellow-heir with those 
Of whom the imperishable kingdom is ! 

Beyond all dreaming now your spirit knows 
The unimagined mysteries. 

Darkly as in a glass our faces look 

To read ourselves, if so we may, aright ; 

You, like the maiden in your faerie book — 
You step behind and see the light ! 

The heart you wore beneath your pedant's cloak 
Only to children's hearts you gave away ; 

Yet unaware in half the world you woke 
The slumbering charm of childhood's day. 

We older children, too, our loss lament. 

We of the " Table Round," remembering well 

How he, our comrade, with his pencil lent 
Your fancy's speech a firmer spell. 

Master of rare woodcraft, by sympathy's 
Sure touch he caught your visionary gleams, 

And made your fame, the dreamer's, one with his, 
The wise interpreter of dreams. 

Farewell ! But near our hearts we have you yet, 
Holding our heritage with loving hand. 

Who "may not follow where your feet are set 
Upon the ways of Wonderland. 

' This poem is reproduced here by the kind permission of the proprietors 
of Punch. 




tl 



LORINA AND ALICE LIDDELL. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



CHAPTER X 

CHILD FRIENDS 

Mr. Dodgson's fondness for children — Miss Isabel Standen — 
Puzzles — "Me and Myself" — A double acrostic — 
" Father William " — Of drinking healths — Kisses by post 
— Tired in the face — The unripe plum — Eccentricities — 
" Sylvie and Bruno " — " Mr. Dodgson is going on well" 

THIS chapter and the next will deal with 
Mr. Dodgson's friendships with children. 
It would have been impossible to arrange 
them in chronological sequence in the earlier part 
of this book, and the fact that they exhibit a very 
important and distinct side of his nature seems to 
justify me in assigning them a special and indi- 
vidual position. 

For the contents of these two chapters, both 
my readers and myself owe a debt of gratitude to 
those child-friends of his, without whose ever- 
ready help this book could never have been 
written. 

359 



36o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

From very early college days began to emerge i 
that beautiful side of Lewis Carroll's character I 
which afterwards was to be, next to his fame as 
an author, the one for which he was best known 
— his attitude towards children, and the strong | 
attraction they had for him. I shall attempt to 
point out the various influences which led him in ■ 
this direction ; but if I were asked for one com- I 
prehensive word wide enough to explain this 
tendency of his nature, I would answer unhesi- 
tatingly — Love. My readers will remember a 
beautiful verse in " Svlvie and Bruno"; trite 
though it is, I cannot forbear to quote it — | 



Say, whose is the skill that paints valley and hill, 

Like a picture so fair to the sight ? 
That flecks the green meadow with sunshine and shadow, 

Till the little lambs leap with delight ? 
'Tis a secret untold to hearts cruel and cold, 

Though 'tis sung by the angels above, 
In notes that ring clear for the ears that can hear. 

And the name of the secret is Love .' 



4 



I 



That "secret"' — an open secret for him — 
explains this side of his character. As /le read 
everything in its light, so it is only in its light 
that we can properly understand kim. I think 
that the following quotation from a letter to the 



LEWIS CARROLL 361 

Rev. F. H. Atkinson, accompanying a copy of 
" Alice " for his little daughter Gertrude, suffi- 
ciently proves the truth of what I have just 
stated : — 

Many thanks to Mrs. Atkinson and to you for the sight 
of the tinted photograph of your Gertrude. As you say, the 
picture speaks for itself, and I can see exactly what sort of a 
child she is, in proof of which I send her my love and a kiss 
herewith. It is possible I may be the first (unseen) gentleman 
from whom she has had so ridiculous a message ; but I can't 
say she is the first unseen child to whom I have sent one ! 
I think the most precious message of the kind I ever got from 
a child I never saw (and never shall see in this world) was to 
the effect that she liked me when she read about Alice, " but 
please tell him, whenever I read that Easter letter he sent me 
I do love him ! " She was in a hospital, and a lady friend 
who visited there had asked me to send the letter to her and 
some other sick children. 

And now as to the secondary causes which 
attracted him to children. First, I think children 
appealed to him because he was pre-eminently 
a teacher, and he saw in their unspoiled minds 
the best material for him to work upon. In later 
years one of his favourite recreations was to 
lecture at schools on logic ; he used to give 
personal attention to each of his pupils, and one 
can well imagine with what eager anticipation the 
children would have looked forward to the visits 



362 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of a schoolmaster who knew how to make even 
the dullest subjects interesting and amusing. 

Again, children appealed to his aesthetic facul- 
ties, for he was a keen admirer of the beautiful 
in every form. Poetry, music, the drama, all 
delighted him, but pictures more than all put 
too"ether. I remember his once showing- me 
" The Lady with the Lilacs," which Arthur 
Hughes had painted for him, and how he dwelt 
with intense pleasure on the exquisite contrasts of 
colour which it contained — the o-old hair of a orirl 
standing out against the purple of lilac-blossom. 
But with those who find in such things as these a 
complete satisfaction of their desire for the beauti- 
ful he had no sympathy ; for no imperfect repre- 
sentations of life could, for him, take the place of 
life itself, life as God has made it — the babbling of \ | 
the brook, the singing of the birds, the laughter 
and sweet faces of the children. And yet, recog- 
nising, as he did, what Mr. Pater aptly terms . 
" the curious perfection of the human form," in ^ 
man, as in nature, it was the soul that attracted 
him more than the body. His intense admira- j. 
tion, one might almost call it adoration, for the 
white innocence and uncontaminated spirituality 
of childhood emerges most clearly in " Sylvie and 



m 



LEWIS CARROLL 363 

Bruno." He says very little of the personal 
beauty of his heroine ; he might have asked, 
with Mr. Francis Thompson — 

How can I tell what beauty is her dole, 

Who cannot see her countenance for her soul ? 

So entirely occupied is he with her gentleness, her 
pity, her sincerity, and her love. 

Again, the reality of children appealed strongly 
to the simplicity and genuineness of his own 
nature. I believe that he understood children 
even better than he understood men and women ;\ 
civilisation has made adult humanity very incom- 
prehensible, for convention is as a veil which/ 
iiides the divine spark that is in each of us, and 
so this strange thing has come to be, that the 
imperfect mirrors perfection more completely than/ 
the perfected, that we see more of God in the 
child than in the man. 

And in those moments of depression of which 
he had his full share, when old age seemed to 
mock him with all its futility and feebleness, it 
was the thought that the children still loved him 
which nerved him arain to continue his life-work, 
which renewed his youth, so that to his friends he 
never seemed an old man. Even the hand of 



364 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

death itself only made his face look more boyish 
— the word is not too strong. " How wonder- 
fully young your brother looks ! " were the first 
words the doctor said, as he returned from the 
room where Lewis Carroll's body lay, to speak to 
the mourners below. And so he loved children 
because their friendship was the true source of 
his perennial youth and unflagging vigour. 
This idea is expressed in the following poem — 
an acrostic, which he wrote for a friend some 
twenty years ago : — 

Around my lonely hearth, to-night, "^~^ 
Ghostlike the shadows wander : | 

Now here, now there, a childish sprite, | 

Earthborn and yet as angel bright, 
Seems near me as I ponder. \] 

Gaily she shouts : the laughing air 

Echoes her note of gladness — 
Or bends herself with earnest care 
Round fairy-fortress to prepare 
Grim battlement or turret-stair — 

In childhood's merry madness ! 

j New raptures still hath youth in store : 

Age may but fondly cherish 
! Half-faded memories of yore — 
Up, craven heart ! repine no more ! 
Love stretches hands from shore to shore : 
Love is, and shall not perish ! 



LEWIS CARROLL 365 

His first child-friend, so far as I know, was 
Miss Alice Liddell, the little companion whose 
innocent talk was one of the chief pleasures of 
his early life at Oxford, and to whom he told the 
tale that was to make him famous. In December, 
1885, Miss M. E. Manners presented him with a 
little volume, of which she was the authoress, 
"Aunt Aofatha Ann and Other Verses," and 
which contained a poem (which I quoted in 
Chapter VL), about "Alice." Writing to ac- 
knowledge this gift, Lewis Carroll said : — 

Permit me to offer you my sincere thanks for the very sweet 
verses you have written about my dream-child (named after 
a real Alice, but none the less a dream-child) and her Wonder- 
land. That children love the book is a very precious thought" 
to me, and, next to their love, I value the sympathy of those 
who come with a child's heart to what I have tried to write 
about a child's thoughts. Next to what conversing with an 
angel might be — for it is hard to imagine it — comes, I think, 
the privilege of having a real child's thoughts uttered to one. 
I have known some few real children (you have too, I am 
sure), and their friendship is a blessing and a help in life. 

It is interesting to note how in " Sylvie and I 
Bruno " his idea of the thoughts of a child has 
become deeper and more spiritual. Yet in the 
earlier tale, told "all in a golden afternoon," to 
the plash of oars and the swish of a boat through 




ALICE LIDDELL. 
(From a photograph by Lcivis Carroll.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 367 

the waters of Cherwell or Thames, the ideal 
child is strangely beautiful ; she has all Sylvie's 
genuineness and honesty, all her keen apprecia- 
tion of the interest of life ; only there lacks that 
mysterious charm of deep insight into the hidden 
forces of nature, the gentle power that makes 
the sky " such a darling blue," which almost links 
Sylvie with the angels. 

Another of Lewis Carroll s early favourites was 
Miss Alexandra (Xie) Kitchin, daughter of the 
Dean of Durham. Her father was for fifteen 
years the Censor of the unattached members of 
the University of Oxford, so that Mr. Dodgson 
had plenty of opportunities of photographing his 
little friend, and it is only fair to him to say that 
he did not neglect them. 

It would be futile to attempt even a bare list of 
the children whom he loved, and who loved him ; 
during forty years of his life he was constantly 
adding to their number. Some remained friends 
for life, but in a large proportion of cases the 
friendship ended with the end of childhood. To 
one of those few, whose affection for him had not 
waned with increasing years, he wrote : — 

I always feel specially grateful to friends who, like you, have 
given me a child-friendship and a woman-friendship. About 




XIE KITCHIN. 
(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.] 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 369 

nine out of ten, I think, of my child-friendships get ship- 
wrecked at the critical point, "where the stream and river 
meet," and the child-friends, once so affectionate, become 
uninteresting acquaintances, whom I have no wish to set eyes 
on again. 

These friendships usually began all very much 
in the same way. A chance meeting on the sea- 
shore, in the street, at some friend's house, led to 
conversation ; then followed a call on the parents, 
and after that all sorts of kindnesses on Lewis 
Carroll's part, presents of books, invitations to 
stay with him at Oxford, or at Eastbourne, visits 
with him to the theatre. For the amusement of 
his little guests he kept a large assortment of 
musical-boxes, and an organette which had to 
be fed with paper tunes. On one occasion he 
ordered about twelve dozen of these tunes "on 
approval," and asked one of the other dons, who 
was considered a judge of music, to come in and 
hear them played over. In addition to these 
attractions there were clock-work bears, mice, 
and frogs, and games and puzzles in infinite 
variety. 

One of his little friends, Miss Isabel Standen, 
has sent me the following account of her first 
meeting with him : — 



370 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

We met for the first time in the Forbury Gardens, Reading. 
He was, I believe, waiting for a train. I was playing with my 
brothers and sisters in the Gardens. I remember his taking 
me on his knee and showing me puzzles, one of which he 
refers to in the letter [given below. This puzzle was, by the 
way, a great favourite of his ; the problem is to draw three 
interlaced squares without going over the same lines twice, or 
taking the pen off the paper], which is so thoroughly charac- 
teristic of him in its quaint humour : — 

" The Chestnuts, Guildford, 

" August 2 2, 1869. 

" My dear Isabel, — Though I have only been acquainted 
with you for fifteen minutes, yet, as there is no one else in 
Reading I have known so long, I hope you will not mind my 
troubling you. Before I met you in the Gardens yesterday 
I bought some old books at a shop in Reading, which I left 
to be called for, and had not time to go back for them. I didn't 
even remark the name of the shop, but I can tell where it was, 
and if you know the name of the woman who keeps the shop, 
and would put it into the blank I have left in this note, and 
direct it to her I should be much obliged. ... A friend of 
mine, called Mr.' Lewis Carroll, tells me he means to send you 
a book. He is a very dear friend of mine. I have known him ' 
all my life (we are the same age) and have never left him. Of | 
course he was with me in the Gardens, not a yard off — even 8 
while I was drawing those puzzles for you. I wonder if you 
saw him ? It 

" Your fifteen-minute friend, | 

" C. L. DODGSON. ^ 

" Have you succeeded in drawing the three squares ? " 



Another favourite puzzle was the following- 



il 



I give it in his own words 



LEWIS CARROLL 371 

A is to draw a fictitious map divided into counties, 

B is to colour it (or rather mark the counties with names of 

colours) using as few colours as possible. 

Two adjacent counties must have different colours, 

A's object is to force B to use as many colours as possible. 

How many can he force B to use ? 

One of his most amusing letters was to a little 
girl called Magdalen, to whom he had given 
a copy of his " Hunting of the Snark ": — 

Christ Church, 

December 15, 1875. 
My dear Magdalen, — I want to explain to you why I did 
not call yesterday, I was sorry to miss you, but you see I 
had so many conversations on the way. I tried to explain to 
the people in the street that I was going to see you, but they 
wouldn't listen ; they said they were in a hurry, which was rude. 
At last I met a wheelbarrow that I thought would attend to 
me, but I couldn't make out what was in it. I saw some 
features at first, then I looked through a telescope, and found 
it was a countenance ; then I looked through a microscope, 
and found it was a face ! I thought it was rather like me, so I 
fetched a large looking-glass to make sure, and then to my 
great joy I found it was me. We shook hands, and were 
just beginning to talk, when myself came up and joined us, 
and we had quite a pleasant conversation. I said, " Do you 
remember when we all met at Sandown?" and myself said, 
" It was very jolly there ; there was a child called Magdalen," 
and me said, "I used to like her a little; not much, you 
know — only a little." Then it was time for us to go to the 
train, and who do you think came to the station to see us 
off? You would never guess, so I must tell you. They were 

J 



372 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

two very dear friends of mine, who happen to be here just ■ 
now, and beg to be allowed to sign this letter as your affec- 
tionate friends, ^ 
Lewis Carroll and C. L. Dodgson. I 

Another child-friend, Miss F. Bremer, writes 
as follows : — i 

Our acquaintance began in a somewhat singular manner. 
We were playing on the Fort at Margate, and a gentleman on 
a seat near asked us if we could make a paper boat, with a 
seat at each end, and a basket in the middle for fish ! We 
were, of course, enchanted with the idea, and our new friend 
— after achieving the feat — gave us his card, which we at once 
carried to our mother. He asked if he might call where we 
were staying, and then presented my elder sister with a copy 
of "Alice in Wonderland," inscribed "From the Author.'' 
He kindly organised many little excursions for us — chiefly in 
the pursuit of knowledge. One memorable visit to a light 
house is still fresh in our memories. 

It was while calling one day upon Mrs. Bremer 
that he scribbled off the following double acrostic 
on the names of her two daughters — 

Double Acrostic — Five Letters. 

Two little girls near London dwell. 
More naughty than I like to tell. 

I. 

Upon the lawn the hoops are seen: 

The balls are rolling on the green. T ur F 



LEWIS CARROLL 373 

2. 
The Thames is running deep and wide : 
And boats are rowing on the tide. RiveR 

3- 

In winter- time, all in a row, 

The happy skaters come and go. I c E 

4- 
" Papa ! " they cry, " Do let us stay ! " 
He does not speak, but says they may. N o D 

5- 
" There is a land," he says, " my dear, 
Which is too hot to skate, I fear." AfricA 

At Margate also he met Miss Adelaide Paine, 
who afterwards became one of his ofreatest 
favourites. He could not bear to see the 
healthy pleasures of childhood spoiled by con- 
ventional restraint. " One piece of advice given 
to my parents," writes Miss Paine, "gave me 
very great glee, and that was not to make little 
girls wear gloves at the seaside ; they took the 
advice, and I enjoyed the result." Apropos 
of this I may mention that, when staying at 
Eastbourne, he never went down to the beach 
without providing himself with a supply of safety- 
pins. Then if he saw any little girl who wanted 
to wade in the sea, but was afraid of spoiling her 



374 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

frock, he would gravely go up to her and present 
her with a safety-pin, so that she might fasten up 
her skirts out of harm's way. 

Tight boots were a great aversion of his, 
especially for children. One little girl who was 
staying with him at Eastbourne had occasion to 
buy a new pair of boots. Lewis Carroll gave 
instructions to the bootmaker as to how they 
were to be made, so as to be thoroughly com- 
fortable, with the result that when they came 
home they were more useful than ornamental, 
being very nearly as broad as they were long ! 
Which shows that even hygienic principles may 
be pushed too far. 

The first meeting with Miss Paine took place 
in 1876. When Lewis Carroll returned to Christ 
Church he sent her a copy of " The Hunting of 
the Snark," with the following acrostic written 
in the fly-leaf : — c I 

' A re you deaf, Father William ? ' the young man said, 

' D id you hear what I told you just now ? 

' E xcuse me for shouting ! Don't waggle your head 

' L ike a blundering, sleepy old cow ! 

' A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town, 

' I s my friend, so I beg to remark : 

' D o you think she'd be pleased if a book were sent down 

' E ntitled " The Hunt of the Snark ? " 



LEWIS CARROLL 375 

' P ack it up in brown paper ! ' the old man cried, 
' A nd seal it with olive-and-dove. 
' I command you to do it ! ' he added with pride, 
' N or forget, my good fellow, to send her beside 
' E aster Greetings, and give her my love.' 

This was followed by a letter, dated June 7, 
1876:— 

My dear Adelaide, — Did you try if the letters at the 
beginnings of the lines about Father William would spell any- 
thing ? Sometimes it happens that you can spell out words 
that way, which is very curious. 

I wish you could have heard him when he shouted out 
^' Pack it up in brown paper ! " It quite shook the house. 
And he threw one of his shoes at his son's head (just to make 
him attend, you know), but it missed him. 

He was glad to hear you had got the book safe, but his eyes 
filled with tears as he said, " I sent her my love, but she never 

" he couldn't say any more, his mouth was so full of 

bones (he was just finishing a roast goose). 

Another letter to Miss Paine is very charac- 
teristic of his quaint humour : — 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

March 8, 1880. 
My dear Ada, — (Isn't that your short name ? " Adelaide " 
is all very well, but you see when one s dreadfully busy one 
hasn't time to write such long words — particularly when it 
takes one half an hour to remember how to spell it — and even 
then one has to go and get a dictionary to see if one has spelt it 
right, and of course the dictionary is in another room, at the 



376 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

top of a high bookcase — where it has been for months and 
months, and has got all covered with dust — so one has to get 
a duster first of all, and nearly choke oneself in dusting it — 
and when one has made out at last which is dictionary and 
which is dust, even then there's the job of remembering which 
end of the alphabet " A " comes — for one feels pretty certain 
it isn't in the middle — then one has to go and wash one's 
hands before turning over the leaves — for they've got so thick 
with dust one hardly knows them by sight — and, as likely as 
not, the soap is lost, and the jug is empty, and there's no 
towel, and one has to spend hours and hours in finding things 
— and perhaps after all one has to go off to the shop to buy a 
new cake of soap — so, with all this bother, I hope you won't 
mind my writing it short and saying, " My dear Ada "). You 
said in your last letter you would like a likeness of me : so 
here it is, and I hope you will like it — I won't forget to call the 
next time but one I'm in Wallington. 

Your very affectionate friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

It was quite against Mr. Dodgson's usual rule 
to give away photographs of himself; he hated 
publicity, and the above letter was accompanied 
by another to Mrs. Paine, which ran as follows : — 

I am very unwilling, usually, to give my photograph, for I I 
don't want people, who have heard of Lewis Carroll, to be * 
able to recognise him in the street — but I can't refuse Ada. 
Will you kindly take care, if any of your ordinary acquaint- 
ances (I don't speak of intimate friends) see it, that they are 
not told anything about the name of " Lewis Carroll " ? 

He even objected to having his books dis- 



J 



LEWIS CARROLL 377 

cussed in his presence ; thus he writes to a 
friend : — - 

Your friend, Miss was very kind and complimentary 

about my books, but may I confess that I would rather have 
them ignored ? Perhaps I am too fanciful, but I have some- 
how taken a dislike to being talked to about them ; and 
consequently have some trials to bear in society, which other- 
wise would be no trials at all. ... I don't think any of my 
many little stage-friends have any shyness at all about being 
talked to of their performances. They thoroughly enjoy the 
pubUcity that I shrink from. 



The child to whom the three following letters 
were addressed, Miss Gaynor Simpson, was one 
of Lewis Carroll's Guildford friends. The 
correct answer to the riddle propounded in the 
second letter is "Copal": — 

December 27, 1873. 

My dear Gaynor, — My name is spelt with a "G,"that is 
to say " Dodgsony Any one who spells it the same as that 
wretch (I mean of course the Chairman of Committees in the 
House of Commons) offends me deeply, and for ever ! It is a 
thing I can forget, but never can forgive I If you do it again, 
I shall call you " 'aynor." Could you live happy with such 
a name ? 

As to dancing, my dear, I never dance, unless I am 
allowed to do it in my own peculiar way. There is no use 
trying to describe it : it has to be seen to be believed. The 
last house I tried it in, the floor broke through. But then it 
was a poor sort of floor — the beams were only six inches thick, 
hardly worth calling beams at all : stone arches are much 



378 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

more sensible, when any dancing, of my peculiar kind, is to be 
done. Did you ever see the Rhinoceros, and the Hippo- 
potamus, at the Zoological Gardens, trying to dance a minuet 
together ? It is a touching sight. 

Give any message from me to Amy that you think will be 
most likely to surprise her, and, believe me. 

Your affectionate friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

My dear Gaynor, — So you would like to know the 
answer to that riddle ? Don't be in a hurry to tell it to Amy 
and Frances : triumph over them for a while ! 

My first lends its aid when you plunge into trade. 

Gain. Who would go into trade if tnere were no gain in 
it? 

My second in jollifications — 

Or [The French for " gold " — ] Your jollifications would 
be very limited if you had no money. 

My whole, laid on thinnish, imparts a neat finish 

To pictorial representations. '^^m , 

Gaynor. Because she will be an ornament to the Shake- 
speare Charades — only she must be "laid on thinnish," that is, 
there mnsn't be too much of her. 

Yours affectionately, ' 

C. L. DODGSON. 

My dear Gaynor, — Forgive me for having sent you a 
sham answer to begin with. 

My first — Sea. It carries the ships of the merchants. 

My second — Weed. That is, a cigar, an article much used 
in jollifications. 

My whole — Seaweed. Take a newly painted oil-picture ; 



LEWIS CARROLL 379 

lay it on its back on the floor, and spread over it, " thinnish," 
some wet seaweed. You will find you have " finished " that 
picture. 

Yours affectionately, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

Lewis Carroll during the last fifteen years of 
his life always spent the Long Vacation at East- 
bourne ; in earlier times, Sandown, a pleasant 
little seaside resort in the Isle of Wight, was 
his summer abode. He loved the sea both for 
its own sake and because of the number of 
children whom he met at seaside places. Here 
is another " first meeting " ; this time it is at 
Sandown, and Miss Gertrude Chataway is the 
narrator : — 

I first met Mr. Lewis Carroll on the sea-shore at Sandown 
in the Isle of Wight, in the summer of 1875, when I was quite 
a little child. 

We had all been taken there for change of air, and next 
door there was an old gentlemen — to me at any rate he 
seemed old — who interested me immensely. He would come 
on to his balcony, which joined ours, sniffing the sea-air with 
his head thrown back, and would walk right down the steps 
on to the beach with his chin in air, drinking in the fresh 
breezes as if he could never have enough. I do not know 
why this excited such keen curiosity on my part, but I re- 
member well that whenever I heard his footstep I flew out 
to see him coming, and when one day he spoke to me my joy 
was complete. 



38o THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Thus we made friends, and in a very little while I was as 
familiar with the interior of his lodgings as with our own. 

I had the usual child's love for fairy-tales and marvels, and 
his power of telling stories naturally fascinated me. We 
used to sit for hours on the wooden steps which led from our 
garden on to the beach, whilst he told the most lovely tales 
that could possibly be imagined, often illustrating the exciting 
situations with a pencil as he went along. 

One thing that made his stories particularly charming to a 
child was that he often took his cue from her remarks — a 
question would set him off on quite a new trail of ideas, so 
that one felt that one had somehow helped to make the story, 
and it seemed a personal possession It was the most lovely 
nonsense conceivable, and I naturally revelled in it. His 
vivid imagination would fly from one subject to another, and 
was never tied down in any way by the probabilities of 
life. 

To nie it was of course all perfect, but it is astonishing that \ 
he never seemed either tired or to want other society. I spokel 
to him once of this since I have been grown up, and he toldl 
me it was the greatest pleasure he could have to converse freely 
with a child, and feel the depths of her mind. 

He used to write to me and I to him after that summer, and 
the friendship, thus begun, lasted. His letters were one of the 
greatest joys of my childhood. 

I don't think that he ever really understood that we, whom 
he had known as children, could not always remain such. I 
stayed with him only a few years ago, at Eastbourne, and felt 
for the time that I was once more a child. He never appeared 
to realise that I had grown up, except when I reminded him of 
the fact, and then he only said, " Never mind : you will always 
be a child to me, even when your hair is grey." 

Some of the letters, to which Miss Chataway 



LEWIS CARROLL 381 

refers in these reminiscences, I am enabled, 
through her kindness, to give below : — 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

October 13, 1875. 

My dear Gertrude, — I never give birthday presents, but 
you see I do sometimes write a birthday letter : so, as I've just 
arrived here, I am writing this to wish you many and many a 
happy return of your birthday to-morrow. I will drink your 
health, if only I can remember, and if you don't mind — but 
perhaps you object ? You see, if I were to sit by you at 
breakfast, and to drink your tea, you wouldn't like that, Avould 
you ? You would say " Boo ! hoo ! Here's Mr. Dodgson's 
drunk all my tea, and I haven't got any left ! " So I am very 
much afraid, next time Sybil looks for you, she'll find you 
sitting by the sad sea-wave, and crying " Boo ! hoo ! Here's 
Mr. Dodgson has drunk my health, and I haven't got any 
left ! " And how it will puzzle Dr. Maund, when he is sent for 
to see you ! " My dear Madam, I'm very sorry to say your 
little girl has got no health at all ! I never saw such a thing 
in my life ! " " Oh, I can easily explain it ! " your mother will 
say. " You see she would go and make friends with a strange 
gentleman, and yesterday he drank her health ! " "Well, Mrs. 
Chataway," he will say, " the only way to cure her is to wait 
till his next birthday, and then for her to drink his health." 

And then we shall have changed healths. I wonder how 
you'll like mine ! Oh, Gertrude, I wish you wouldn't talk 
such nonsense ! . . . 

Your loving friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

Christ Church, Oxford, Dec. 9, 1875. 
My dear Gertrude, — This really will not do, you know, 
sending one more kiss every time by post : the parcel gets so 



382 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

heavy it is quite expensive. When the postman brought in 
the last letter, he looked quite grave. "Two pounds to pay, 
sir ! " he said. " Extra weight, sir ! " (I think he cheats a 
little, by the way. He often makes me pay two pounds, 
when I think it should be pence). "Oh, if you please, Mr. 
Postman ! " I said, going down gracefully on one knee (I 
wish you could see me go down on one knee to a postman 
— it's a very pretty sight), "do excuse me just this once! 
It's only from a little girl ! " 

"Only from a little girl!" he growled. "What are little 
girls made of?" "Sugar and spice," I began to say, "and all 
that's ni — " but he interrupted me. " No ! I don't mean that. 
I mean, what's the good of little girls, when they send such 
heavy letters ? " " Well, they're not much good, certainly," I 
said, rather sadly. 

" Mind you don't get any more such letters," he said, "at 
least, not from that particular little girl. / know her well, and 
she's a regular bad one ! " That's not true, is it ? I don't 
believe he ever saw you, and you're not a bad one, are you? 
However, I promised him we would send each other very 
few more letters — "Only two thousand four hundred and 
seventy, or so," I said. "Oh ! " he said, "a little number like 
that doesn't signify. What I meant is, you mustn't send many." 

So you see we must keep count now, and when we get to 
two thousand four hundred and seventy, we mustn't write any 
more, unless the postman gives us leave. 

I sometimes wish I was back on the shore at Sandown; 
don't you ? 

Your loving friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

Why is a pig that has lost its tail like a little girl on the 
sea-shore ? 

Because it says, " I should like another tale, please ! " 



LEWIS CARROLL 383 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

^uly 21, 1876. 

My dear Gertrude, — Explain to me how I am to enjoy 
Sandown without you. How can I walk on the beach alone ? 
How can I sit all alone on those wooden steps ? So you see, 
as I shan't be able to do without you, you will have to come. 
If Violet comes, I shall tell her to invite you to stay with her, 
and then I shall come over in the Heather-Bell and fetch you. 

If I ever do come over, I see I couldn't go back the same 
day, so you will have to engage me a bed somewhere in 
Swanage ; and if you can't find one, I shall expect you to 
spend the night on the beach, and give up your room to me. 
Guests of course must be thought of before children ; and I'm 
sure in these warm nights the beach will be quite good enough 
for you. If you did feel a little chilly, of course you could go 
into a bathing-machine, which everybody knows is very com- 
fortable to sleep in — you know they make the floor of soft 
wood on purpose. I send you seven kisses (to last a week) 
and remain 

Your loving friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

Christ Church, Oxford, 

October 28, 1876. 
My dearest Gertrude, — You will be sorry, and surprised, 
and puzzled, to hear what a queer illness I have had ever since 
you went. I sent for the doctor, and said, " Give me some 
medicine, for I'm tired." He said, " Nonsense and stuff ! 
You don't want medicine : go to bed ! " I said, " No ; it 
isn't the sort of tiredness that wants bed. I'm tired in the 
face." He looked a little grave, and said, " Oh, it's your nose 
that's tired : a person often talks too much when he thinks he 
nose a great deal." I said, " No ; it isn't the nose. Perhaps 
it's the hair." Then he looked rather grave, and said, " Now 
I understand : you've been playing too many hairs on the 



384 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

piano-forte." " No, indeed I haven't ! " I said, " and it isn't 
exactly the hair : it's more about the nose and chin." Then, 
he looked a good deal graver, and said, " Have you been 
walking much on your chin lately ? " I said, " No." " Well ! " 
he said, " it puzzles me very much. Do you think that it's in 
the lips ? " " Of course ! " I said. " That's exacdy what it is ! " 
Then he looked very grave indeed, and said, "I think you 
must have been giving too many kisses." "Well," I said, " I 
did give one kiss to a baby child, a Httle friend of mine." 
"Think again," he said; "are you sure it was only one?" 
I thought again, and said, "Perhaps it was eleven times." 
Then the doctor said, " You must not give her any more till! 
your lips are quite rested again." " But what am I to do ? "/ 
I said, "because you see, I owe her a hundred and eighty-twc 
more." Then he looked so grave that the tears ran down his 
cheeks, and he said, " You may send them to her in a box.' 
Then I remembered a little box that I once bought at Dover, . 
and thought I would some day give it to some little girl or 
other. So I have packed them all in it very carefully. Tell 
me if they come safe, or if any are lost on the way. 



Reading Station, 

April 13, 1878. 
My dear Gertrude,— As I have to wait here for half an 
hour, I have been studying Bradshaw (most things, you know, 
ought to be studied : even a trunk is studded with nails), and 
the result is that it seems I could come, any day next week, 
to Winckfield, so as to arrive there about one ; and that, by 
leaving Winckfield again about half-past six, I could reach 
Guildford again for dinner. The next question is, How far 
is it from Winckfield to Rotheiwick 1 Now do not deceive 
me, you wretched child ! If it is more than a hundred miles, 
I can't come to see you, and there is no use to talk about it. 
If it is less, the next question is, How much less f These are 



LEWIS CARROLL 385 

serious questions, and you must be as serious as a judge in 
answering them. There mustn't be a smile in your pen, or a 
wink in your ink (^perhaps you'll say, " There can't be a iviiik 
in ink : but there may be ink in a wink " — but this is trifling ; 
you mustn't make jokes like that when I tell you to be serious) 
while you write to Guildford and answer these two questions. 
You might as well tell me at the same time whether you are 
still living at Rotherwick — and whether you are at home — and 
whether you get my letter — and whether you're still a child, or 
a grown-up person — and whether you're going to the seaside 
next summer — and anything else (except the alphabet and the 
multiplication table) that you happen to know. I send you 
10,000,000 kisses, and remain 

Your loving friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 



The Chestnuts, Guildford, 

April 19, 1878. 
My dear Gertrude, — I'm afraid it's "no go" — I've had 
such a bad cold all the week that I've hardly been out for 
some days, and I don't think it would be wise to try the 
expedition this time, and I leave here on Tuesday. But after 
all, what does it signify? Perhaps there are ten or twenty 
gentlemen, all living within a few miles of Rotherwick, and 
any one of them would do just as well ! When a little girl is 
hoping to take a plum off a dish, and finds that she can't have 
that one, because it's bad or unripe, what does she do ? Is 
she sorry or disappointed ? Not a bit ! She just takes another 
instead, and grins from one little ear to the other as she puts 
it to her lips ! This is a little fable to do you good ; the little 
girl means you — the bad plum means me — the other plum 
means some other friend — and all that about the little girl 
putting plums to her lips means — well, it means — but you 
know you can't expect every bit of a fable to mean something ! 



386 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



And the little girl grinning means that dear little smile of 
yours, that just reaches from the tip of one ear to the tip of 
the other ! 

Your loving friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

I send you 4f kisses. 

The next letter is a good example of the 
dainty little notes Lewis Carroll used to scribble 
off on any scrap of paper that lay to his 
hand : — 

Chestnuts, Guildford, 

January 15, 1886. 
Yes, my child, if all be well, I shall hope, and you may fear, 
that the train reaching Hook at two eleven, will contain 

Your loving friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

Only a few years ago, illness prevented him 
from fulfilling his usual custom of spending 
Christmas with his sisters at Guildford. This is 
the allusion in the following letter : — 



My dear old Friend, — (The friendship is old, though the 
child is young.) I wish a very happy New Year, and many of 
them, to you and yours ; but specially to you, because I know 
you best and love you most. And I pray God to bless you, 
dear child, in this bright New Year, and many a year to come. 
... I write all this from my sofa, where I have been confined 
a prisoner for six weeks, and as I dreaded the railway journey, 
my doctor and I agreed that I had better not go to spend 



LEWIS CARROLL 387 

Christmas with my sisters at Guildford. So I had my 
Christmas dinner all alone, in my room here, and (pity me, 
Gertrude !) it wasn't a Christmas dinner at all — I suppose the 
cook thought I should not care for roast beef or plum pudding, 
so he sent me (he has general orders to send either fish and 
meat, or meat and pudding) some fried sole and some roast 
mutton ! Never, never have I dined before, on Christmas 
Day, without plum pudding. Wasn't it sad? Now I think 
you must be content ; this is a longer letter than most will get. 
Love to Olive. My clearest memory of her is of a little girl 
calling out " Good-night " from her room, and of your mother 
taking me in to see her in her bed, and wish her good-night. 
I have a yet clearer memory (like a dream of fifty years ago) 
of a little bare-legged girl in a sailor's jersey, who used to run 
up into my lodgings by the sea. But why should I trouble 
you with foolish reminiscences of mine that cannot interest 
you ? 

Yours always lovingly, 

C. L. DODGSON. 



It was a writer in T/ie National Review who, 
after eulogising the talents of Lewis Carroll, and 
stating that he would never be forgotten, added 
the harsh prophecy that " future generations will 
not waste a single thought upon the Rev. C. L. 
Dodgson." 

If this prediction is destined to be fulfilled, I 
think my readers will agree with me that it 
will be solely on account of his extraordinary 
diffidence about asserting himself. But such an 
unnatural division of Lewis Carroll, the author, 



388 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

from the Rev. C. L. Dodgson, the man, is forced 
in the extreme. His books are simply the ex- 
pression of his normal habit of mind, as these 
letters show. In literature, as in everything else, 
he was absolutely natural. 

To refer to such criticisms as this (I am 
thankful to say they have been very few) is 
not agreeable ; but I feel that it is owing to Mr. 
Dodp-son to do what I can to vindicate the real 
unity which underlay both his life and all his 
writings. 

Of many anecdotes which might be adduced 
to show the lovable character of the man, the 
following little story has reached me through one 
of his child-friends : — 

My sister and I [she writes] were spending a day of delightful 
sightseeing in town with him, on our way to his home at 
Guildford, where we were going to pass a day or two with him. 
We were both children, and were much interested when he 
took us into an American shop where the cakes for sale were 
cooked by a very rapid process before your eyes, and handed 
to you straight from the cook's hands. As the preparation of 
them could easily be seen from outside the window, a small 
crowd of little ragamuffins naturally assembled there, and I 
well remember his piling up seven of the cakes on one arm, 
and himself taking them out and doling them round to the! 
seven hungry little youngsters. The simple kindness of his i 
act impressed its charm on his child-friends inside the shop as! 
much as on his little stranger friends outside. 



LEWIS CARROLL 389 

It was only to those who had but few personal 
dealings with him that he seemed stiff and 
" donnish " ; to his more intimate acquaintances, 
who really understood him, each little eccentricity' 
of manner or of habits was a delio-htful addition 
to his charming and interesting personality. 
That he was, in some respects, eccentric cannot 
be denied ; for instance he hardly ever wore an 
overcoat, and always wore a tall hat, whatever 
might be the climatic conditions. At dinner 
in his rooms small pieces of cardboard took 
the place of table-mats ; they answered the 
purpose perfectly well, he said, and to buy any- 
thing else would be a mere waste of money. 
On the other hand, when purchasing books for 
himself, or giving treats to the children he loved, 
he never seemed to consider expense at all. 

He very seldom sat down to write, preferring 
to stand while thus eng-a^ed. When makino- tea 
for his friends, he used, in order, I suppose, to 
expedite the process, to walk up and down 
the room waving the teapot about, and telling 
meanwhile those delightful anecdotes of which 
he had an inexhaustible supply. 

Great were his preparations before going a 
journey ; each separate article used to be care- 



390 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



fully wrapped up in a piece of paper all to itself, 
so that his trunks contained nearly as much 
paper as of the more useful things. The bulk 
of the luggage was sent on a day or two before 
by goods train, while he himself followed on the 
appointed day, laden only with his well-known 
little black bag, which he always insisted on 
carrying himself 

He had a strong objection to staring colours in 
dress, his favourite combination being pink and 
grey. One little girl who came to stay with him 
was absolutely forbidden to wear a red frock, of 
a somewhat pronounced hue, while out in his 
company. 

At meals he was very abstemious always, 
while he took nothing in the middle of the day 
except a glass of wine and a biscuit. Under 
these circumstances it is not very surprising 
that the healthy appetites of his little friends 
filled him with wonder, and even with alarm. 
When he took a certain one of them out with 
him to a friend's house to dinner, he used to give 
the host or hostess a gentle warning, to the 
mixed amazement and indignation of the child, 
" Please be careful, because she eats a good deal 
too much." 



LEWIS CARROLL 391 

Another peculiarity, which I have already 
referred to, was his objection to being invited 
to dinners or any other social gatherings ; he 
made a rule of never accepting invitations. 
" Because you have invited me, therefore I can- 
not come," was the usual form of his refusal. I 
suppose the reason of this was his hatred of the 
interference with work which engagements of 
this sort occasion. 

He had an extreme horror of infection, as will 
appear from the following illustration. Miss Isa 
Bowman and her sister, Nellie, were at one time 
staying with him at Eastbourne, when news came 
from home that their youngest sister had caught 
the scarlet fever. From that day every letter 
which came from Mrs. Bowman to the children 
was held up by Mr. Dodgson, while the two little 
girls, standing at the opposite end of the room, 
had to read it as best they could. Mr. Dodgson, 
who was the soul of honour, used always to turn 
his head to one side during these readings, lest 
he might inadvertently see some words that were 
not meant for his eyes. 

Some extracts from letters of his to a child- 
friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, follow: 



392 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

November 30, 1879. 
I have been awfully busy, and I've had to write heaps of 
letters — wheelbarrows full, almost. And it tires me so that 
generally I go to bed again the next minute after I get up : 
and sometimes I go to bed again a minute before I get up ! 
Did you ever hear of any one being so tired as that ? . . . 

November 7, 1882. 

My dear E , — How often you must find yourself m want 

of a pin ! For instance, you go into a shop, and you say to the 
man, " I want the largest penny bun you can let me have for 
a halfpenny." And perhaps the man looks stupid, and doesn't 
quite understand what you mean. Then how convenient it is 
to have a pin ready to stick into the back of his hand, while 
you say, " Now then ! Look sharp, stupid ! " . . . and even 
when you don't happen to want a pin, how often you think to 
yourself, "They say Interlacken is a very pretty place. I 
wonder what it looks like ! " (That is the place that is painted 
on this pincushion.) 

When you don't happen to want either a pin or pictures, 
it may just remind you of a friend who sometimes thinks of his 

dear little friend E , and who is just now thinking of the 

day he met her on the parade, the first time she had been 
allowed to come out alone to look for him. . . . 

December 26, 1886. 

My dear E , — Though rushing, rapid rivers roar between 

us (if you refer to the map of England, I think you'll find that 
to be correct), we still remember each other, and feel a sort 
of shivery affection for each other. . , . 

March 31, 1890. 

I do sympathise so heartily with you in what you say about 

feeling shy with children when you have to entertain them ! 

Sometimes they are a real terror to me — especially boys : little 



1 



LEWIS CARROLL 393 

girls I can now and then get on with, when they're few enough. 
They easily become " de trop." But with little boys I'm out 
of my element altogether. I sent " Sylvie and Bruno " to an 
Oxford friend, and, in writing his thanks, he added, " I think 
I must bring my little boy to see you." So I wrote to say 
" iion'l," or words to that effect : and he wrote again that he 
could hardly believe his eyes when he got my note. He 
thought I doted on all children. But I'm not omnivorous ! — 
like a pig. I pick and choose. . . . 

You are a lucky girl, and I am rather inclined to envy you, 
in having the leisure to read Dante — / have never read a page 
of him ; yet I am sure the " Divina Commedia " is one of the 
grandest books in the world — -though I am not sure whether 
the reading of it would raise one's life and give it a nobler 
purpose, or simply be a grand poetical treat. That is a ques- 
tion you are beginning to be able to answer : I doubt if / 
shall ever (at least in this life) have the opportunity of reading 
it ; my life seems to be all torn into little bits among the host 
of things I want to do ! It seems hard to settle what to do 
first. One piece of work, at any rate, I am clear ought to be 
done this year, and it will take months of hard work : I mean 
the second volume of " Sylvie and Bruno." I fully mean, if I 
have life and health till Xmas next, to bring it out then. 
When one is close on sixty years old, it seems presumptuous 
to count on years and years of work yet to be done. . . . 

She is rather the exception among the hundred or so of 
child-friends who have brightened my life. Usually the child 
becomes so entirely a different being as she grows into a 
woman, that our friendship has to change too : and that it 
usually does by gliding down from a loving intimacy into an 
acquaintance that merely consists of a smile and a bow when 
we meet ! . . . 

Jannary i, 1895. 
. . . You are quite correct in saying it is a long time since 
you have heard from me : in fact, I find that I have not 



394 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

written to you since the 13th of last November. But what 
of that? You have access to the daily papers. Surely you 
can find out negatively, that I am all right ! Go carefully 
through the list of bankruptcies ; then run your eye down the 
police cases ; and, if you fail to find my name anywhere, you 
can say to your mother in a tone of calm satisfaction, " Mr. 
Dodgson is going on weU." 



CHAPTER XI 

(the same — continued.) 

Books for children — " The Lost Plum-Cake " — " An Un- 
expected Guest " — Miss Isa Bowman — Interviews — 
" Matilda Jane " — Miss Edith Rix — Miss Kathleen 
Eschwege. 

LEWIS CARROLL'S own position as an 
author did not prevent him from taking 
a great interest in children's books and 
their writers. He had very strong ideas on what 
was or was not suitable in such books, but, when 
once his somewhat exacting taste was satisfied, 
he was never tired of recommending a story to 
his friends. His cousin, Mrs. Egerton Allen, 
who has herself written several charminor tales 
for young readers, has sent me the following 
letter which she received from him some years 
ago :— 

Dear Georgie, — Many thanks. The book was at Ch. Ch. 
I've done an unusual thing, in thanking for a book, namely, 




XIE KITCHIN AS A CHINAMAN. 

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 397 

waited to read it. I've read it right through ! In fact, I 
found it very refreshing, when jaded with my own work at 
"Sylvie and Bruno" {coming out at Xmas, I hope) to He 
down on the sofa and read a chapter of " Evie." I hke it 
very much : and am so glad to have helped to bring it out. It 
would have been a real loss to the children of England, if you 
had burned the MS., as you once thought of doing. . . . 

The very last words of his that appeared in 
print took the form of a preface to one of Mrs. 
Allen's tales, "The Lost Plum-Cake," (Mac- 
millan & Co., 1898). So far as I know, this was 
the only occasion on which he wrote a preface 
for another author's book, and his remarks are 
doubly interesting as being his last service to the 
children whom he loved. No apology, then, is 
needed for quoting from them here: — 

Let me seize this opportunity of saying one earnest word to 
the mothers in whose hands this little book may chance to 
come, who are in the habit of taking their children to church 
with them. However well and reverently those dear little 
ones have been taught to behave, there is no doubt that so 
long a period of enforced quietude is a severe tax on their 
patience. The hymns, perhaps, tax it least : and what a 
pathetic beauty there is in the sweet fresh voices of the chil- 
dren, and how earnestly they sing ! I took a little girl of six to 
church with me one day : they had told me she could hardly 
read at all — but she made me find all the places for her ! 
And afterwards I said to her elder sister " What made you say 
Barbara couldn't read? Why, I heard her joining in, all 



398 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

through the hymn ! " And the Httle sister gravely replied, 
" She knows the tunes, but not the words." Well, to return to 
my subject — children in church. The lessons, and the prayers, 
are not wholly beyond them : often they can catch little bits 
that come within the range of their small minds. But the 
sermons ! It goes to one's heart to see, as I so often do, little 
darlings of five or six years old, forced to sit still through a 
weary half-hour, with nothing to do, and not one word of the 
sermon that they can understand. Most heartily can I sym- 
pathise with the little charity-girl who is said to have written to 
some friend, "I think, when I grows up, I'll never go to 
church no more. I think I'se getting sermons enough to last 
me all my life ! " But need it be so ? Would it be so very irre- 
verent to let your child have a story-book to read during the 
sermon, to while away that tedious half-hour, and to make 
church-going a bright and happy memory, instead of rousing 
the thought, " I'll never go to church no more " ? I think 
not. For my part, I should love to see the experiment tried. 
I am quite sure it would be a success. My advice would be 
to keep some books for that special purpose. I would call 
such books " Sunday-treats " — and your little boy or girl would 
soon learn to look forward with eager hope to that half-hour, 
once so tedious. If I were the preacher, dealing with some 
subject too hard for the little ones, I should love to see them 
all enjoying their picture-books. And if this\itt\e book should 
ever come to be used as a " Sunday-treat " for some sweet 
baby reader, I don't think it could serve a better purpose. 

Lewis Carroll. 



Miss M. E. Manners was another writer for 
children whose books pleased him. She gives 
an amusing account of two visits which he paid 
to her house in 1889 : — 



LEWIS CARROLL 399 

An Unexpected Guest. 

" Mr. Dobson wants to see you, miss." 

I was in the kitchen looking after the dinner, and did not 
feel that I particularly wished to see anybody. 

"He wants a vote, or he is an agent for a special kind of 
tea," thought I. " I don't know him; ask him to send a mes- 
sage." 

Presently the maid returned — 

" He says he is Mr. Dodgson, of Oxford." 

" Lewis Carroll ! " I exclaimed ; and somebody else had to 
superintend the cooking that day. 

My apologies were soon made and cheerfully accepted. I 
believe I was unconventional enough to tell the exact truth 
concerning my occupation, and matters were soon on a 
friendly footing. Indeed I may say at once that the stately 
college don we have heard so much about never made his 
appearance during our intercourse with him. 

He did not talk "Alice," of course ; authors don't generally 
talk their books, I imagine ; but it was undoubtedly Lewis 
Carroll who was present with us. 

A portrait of Ellen Terry on the wall had attracted his 
attention, and one of the first questions he asked was, " Do 
you ever go to the theatre ? " I explained that such things 
were done, occasionally, even among Quakers, but they were 
not considered quite orthodox. 

" Oh, well, then you will not be shocked, and I may venture 
to produce my photographs." And out into the hall he went, 
and soon returned with a little black bag containing character- 
portraits of his child-friends, Isa and Nellie Bowman. 

" Isa used to be Alice until she grew too big," he said." 
" Nellie was one of the oyster-fairies, and Emsie, the tiny one 
of all, was the Dormouse." 

"When 'Alice' was first dramatised," he said, "the poem 
of the ' Walrus and the Carpenter ' fell rather flat, for people 



400 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



did not know when it was finished, and did not clap in the 
right place ; so I had to write a song for the ghosts of the 
oysters to sing, which made it all right." 

He was then on his way to London, to fetch Isa to stay 
with him at Eastbourne. She was evidently a great favourite, 
and had visited him before. Of that earlier time he said : — 

" When people ask me why I have never married, I tell 




ALICE AND THE DORMOUSE. 
(From a photograph by Elliott & Fry.) 

them I have never met the young lady whom I could endure 
for a fortnight — but Isa and I got on so well together that I 
said I should keep her a month, the length of the honeymoon, 
and we didn't get tired of each other." 

Nellie afterwards joined her sister "for a few days," but the 
days spread to some weeks, for the poor little dormouse 
developed scarlet fever, and the elder children had to be kept 
out of harm's way until fear of infection was over. 



Z,£II75 CARROLL 401 

Of Emsie he had a funny Uttle story to tell. He had 
taken her to the Aquarium, and they had been watching the 
seals coming up dripping out of the water. With a very 
pitiful look she turned to him and said, " Don't they give 
them any towels ? " [The same little girl commiserated the 
bear, because it had got no tail.] 

Asked to stay to dinner, he assured us that he never took 
anything in the middle of the day but a glass of wine and a 
biscuit ; but he would be happy to sit down with us, which he 
accordingly did and kindly volunteered to carve for us. His 
offer was gladly accepted, but the appearance of a rather 
diminutive piece of neck of mutton was somewhat of a puzzle 
to him. He had evidently never seen such a joint in his life 
before, and had frankly to confess that he did not know how 
to set about carving it. Directions only made things worse, 
and he bravely cut it to pieces in entirely the wrong fashion, 
relating meanwhile the story of a shy young man who had 
been asked to carve a fowl, the joints of which had been care- 
fully wired together beforehand by his too attentive friends. 

The task and the story being both finished, our visitor 
gazed on the mangled remains, and remarked quaintly : "I 
think it is just as well I don't want anything, for I don't know 
where I should find it." 

At least one member of the party felt she could have 
managed matters better; but that was a point of very little 
consequence. 

A day or two after the first call came a note saying that he 
would be taking Isa home before long, and if we would like to 
see her he would stop on the way again. 

Of course we were only too delighted to have the oppor- 
tunity, and, though the visit was postponed more than once, it 
did take place early in August, when he brought both Isa and 
Nellie up to town to see a performance of "Sweet Lavender." 
It is needless to remark that we took care, this time, to be 
provided with something at once substantial and carvable. 



402 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



The children were bright, healthy, happy and childlike little 
maidens, quite devoted to their good friend, whom they called 
" Uncle " ; and very interesting it was to see them together. 

But he did not allow any undue liberties either, as a little 
incident showed. 

He had been describing a particular kind of collapsible 
tumbler, which you put in your pocket and carried with you 
for use on a railway journey. 

" There now," he continued, turning to the children, " ] 
forgot to bring it with me after all." 

"Oh Goosie," broke in Isa ; "you've been talking aboul 
that tumbler for days, and now you have forgotten it," 

He pulled himself up, and looked at her steadily with an 
air of grave reproof. 

Much abashed, she hastily substituted a very subdued 
"Uncle" for the objectionable "Goosie," and the matter 
dropped. 

The principal anecdote on this occasion was about a dog 
which had been sent into the sea after sticks. He brought 
them back very properly for some time, and then there 
appeared to be a little difficulty, and he returned swimming in 
a very curious manner. On closer inspection it appeared that 
he had caught hold of his own tail by mistake, and was 
bringing it to land in triumph. 

This was told with the utmost gravity, and though we had 
been requested beforehand not to mention " Lewis Carroll's " 
books, the temptation was too strong. I could not help 
saying to the child next me — 

"That was like the Whiting, wasn't it ?" 

Our visitor, however, took up the remark, and seemed 
quite willing to talk about it. 

" When I wrote that," he said, " I believed that whiting 
really did have their tails in their mouths, but I have since 
been told that fishmongers put the tail through the eye, not 
in the mouth at all." 



LEWIS CARROLL 403 

He was not a very good carver, for Miss 
Bremer also describes a little difficulty he had — 
this time with the pastry: "An amusing inci- 
dent occurred when he was at lunch with us. 
He was requested to serve some pastry, and, 
using a knife, as it was evidently rather hard, the 
knife penetrated the d'oyley beneath — and his 
consternation was extreme when he saw the slice 
of linen and lace he served as an addition to the 
tart!" 

It was, I think, through her connection with 
the " Alice " play that Mr. Dodgson first came 
to know Miss Isa Bowman. Her childish friend- 
ship for him was one of the joys of his later 
years, and one of the last letters he wrote was 
addressed to her. The poem at the beginning of 
*' Sylvie and Bruno " is an acrostic on her name — 

Is all our Life, then, but a dream, 
Seen faintly in the golden gleam 
Athwart Times's dark, resistless stream ? 

Bowed to the earth with bitter woe, 
Or laughing at some raree-show. 
We flutter idly to and fro. 

Man's little Day in haste we spend, 
And, from the merry noontide, send 
No glance to meet the silent end. 



404 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Every one has heard of Lewis Carroll's hatred ^: 
of interviewers ; the following letter to Miss 
Manners makes one feel that in some cases, at 
least, his feeling was justifiable : — 



3S I 

i 



If your Manchester relatives ever go to the play, tell them 
they ought to see Isa as " Cinderella " — she is evidently a 
success. And she has actually been " interviewed " by one of I 
those dreadful newspapers reporters, and the " interview " is 
published with her picture ! And such rubbish he makes her 
talk ! She tells him that something or other was " tacitly 
conceded " : and that " I love to see a great actress give 
expression to the wonderful ideas of the immortal master ! " 
(N.B. — I never let her talk like that when she is with me /) 
Emsie recovered in time to go to America, with her mother 
and Isa and Nellie : and they all enjoyed the trip much ; and 
Emsie has a London engagement. 

Only once was an interviewer bold enough to 
enter Lewis Carroll's sanctum. The story has 
been told in- The Guardian (January 19, 189S), 
but will bear repetition : — 

Not long ago Mr. Dodgson happened to get into corre- 
spondence with a man whom he had never seen, on some 
question of religious difficulty, and he invited him to come to 
his rooms and have a talk on the subject. When, there- 
fore, a Mr. X was announced to him one morning, he 

advanced to meet him with outstretched hand and smiles of 

welcome. 'Come in Mr. X , I have been expecting you." 

The delighted visitor thought this a promising beginning, and 



LEWIS CARROLL 



405 



immediately pulled out a note-book and pencil, and proceeded 
to ask " the usual questions." Great was Mr. Dodgson's 
disgust ! Instead of his expected friend, here was another 
man of the same name, and one of the much-dreaded inter- 
viewers, actually sitting in his chair ! The mistake was soon 
explained, and the representative of the Press was bowed 
out as quickly as he had come in. 

It was while Isa and one of her sisters were 
staying at Eastbourne that the visit to America 
was mooted. Mr. Dodo-son suoorested that it 
would be well for them to grow gradually 
accustomed to seafaring, and therefore proposed 
to take them by steamer to Hastings. This plan 
was carried out, and the weather was unspeakably 
bad — far worse than anything they experienced 
in their subsequent trip across the Atlantic. The 
two children, who were neither of them very 
good sailors, experienced sensations that were 
the reverse of pleasant. Mr. Dodgson did his 
best to console them, while he continually re- 
peated, " Crossing the Atlantic will be much 
worse than this." 

However, even this terrible lesson on the 
horrors of the sea did not act as a deterrent ; 
it was as unsuccessful as the effort of the old lady 
in one of his stories : "An old lady I once knew 
tried to check the military ardour of a little boy 



4o6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

by showing him a picture of a battlefield, and 
describing some of its horrors. But the only 
answer she got was, ' I'll be a soldier. Tell it 
agam ! 

. The Bowman children sometimes came over to 
visit him at Oxford, and he used to delight in 
showing them over the colleges, and pointing 
out the famous people whom they encountered. 
On one of these occasions he was walking with 
Maggie, then a mere child, when they met the 
Bishop of Oxford, to whom Mr. Dodgson intro- 
duced his little guest. His lordship asked her 
what she thought of Oxford. *' I think," said the 
little actress, with quite a professional aplomb, 
"it's the best place in the Provinces!" At 
which the Bishop was much amused. After the 
child had returned to town, the Bishop sent her 
a copy of a little book called "Golden Dust," 
inscribed " From W. Oxon," which considerably 
mystified her, as she knew nobody of that name ! 
Another little stage-friend of Lewis Carroll's 
was Miss Vera Beringer, the " Little Lord 
Fauntleroy," whose acting delighted all theatre- 
goers eight or nine years ago. Once, when she 
was spending a holiday in the Isle of Man, he 
sent her the following lines : — 



1 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 407 

There was a young lady of station, 

" I love man " was her sole exclamation ; 

But when men cried, " You flatter," 

She replied, " Oh ! no matter. 
Isle of Man is the true explanation." 



Many of his friendships with children began 
in a railway carriage, for he always took about 
with him a stock of puzzles when he travelled, to 
amuse any little companions whom chance might 
send him. Once he was in a carriage with a 
lady and her little daughter, both complete 
strancrers to him. The child was reading- 
" Alice in Wonderland," and when she put her 
book down, he began talking to her about it. 
The mother soon joined in the conversation, of 
course without the least idea who the stranofer 
was with whom she was talking. " Isn't it sad," 
she said, "about poor Mr. Lewis Carroll.'* He's 
gone mad, you know." " Indeed," replied Mr. 
Dodgson, " I had never heard that." " Oh, I 
assure you it is quite true," the lady answered. 
" I have it on the best authority." Before Mr. 
Dodgson parted with her, he obtained her leave 
to send a present to the little girl, and a few days 
afterwards she received a copy of "Through the 
Looking-Glass," inscribed with her name, and 



4o8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

" From the Author, in memory of a pleasant 
journey." 

When he gave books to children, he very often 
wrote acrostics on their names on the fly-leaf. 
One of the prettiest was inscribed in a copy of 
Miss Yonge's " Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe," 
which he gave to Miss Ruth Dymes : — 

R ound the wondrous globe I wander wild, 
U p and down-hill — Age succeeds to youth — 
T oiling all in vain to find a child 
H alf so loving, half so dear as Ruth. 

In another book, given to her sister Margaret, he 

wrote : — 

M aidens, if a maid you meet 
A Iways free from pout and pet, 
R eady smile and temper sweet, 
G reet my little Margaret. 
A nd if loved by all she be 
R ightly, not a pampered pet, 
E asily you then may see 
'T is my little Margaret. 

Here are two letters to children, the one 
interesting as a specimen of pure nonsense of 
the sort which children always like, the other 
as showing his dislike of being praised. The 
first was written to Miss Gertrude Atkinson, 
daughter of an old College friend, but otherwise 



I 

I 



LEWIS CARROLL 409 

unknown to Lewis Carroll except by her photo- 
graph :— 

My dear Gertrude, — So many things have happened 
since we met last, really I don't know which to begin talking 
about ! For instance, England has been conquered by William 
the Conqueror. We haven't met since that happened, you 
know. How did you like it ? Were you frightened ? 

And one more thing has happened : I have got your photo- 
graph. Thank you very much for it. I like it "awfully." Do 
they let you say "awfully"? or do they say, " No, my dear ; 
little girls mustn't say ' awfully ' ; they should say ' very much 
indeed ' " ? 

I wonder if you will ever get as far as Jersey ? If not, how 
are we to meet ? 

Your affectionate friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

From the second letter, to Miss Florence 
Jackson, I take the following extract : — 

I have two reasons for sending you this fable ; one is, that 
in a letter you wrote me you said something about my 
being "clever" ; and the other is that, when you wrote again 
you said it again ! And eacJi time I thought, " Really, I must 
write and ask her not to say such things ; it is not wholesome 
reading for me." 

The fable is this. The cold, frosty, bracing air is the treat- 
ment one gets from the world generally — such as contempt, or 
blame, or neglect; all those are very wholesome. And the 
hot dry air, that you breathe when you rush to the fire, is the 
praise that one gets from one's young, happy, rosy, I may even 
say florid friends ! And that's very bad for me, and gives 
pride — fever, and conceit — cough, and such-like diseases. 



410 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Now I'm sure you don't want me to be laid up with all these 
diseases ; so please don't praise me any more ! 

The verses to "Matilda Jane " certainly deserve 
a place in this chapter. To make their meaning 
clear, I must state that Lewis Carroll wrote them 
for a little cousin of his, and that Matilda Jane 
was the somewhat prosaic name of her doll. The 
poem expresses finely the blind, unreasoning devo- 
tion which the infant mind professes for inanimate 
objects : — 

Matilda Jane, you never look 
At any toy or picture-book ; 
I show you pretty things in vain, 
You must be blind, Matilda Jane ! 

I ask you riddles, tell you tales, 
But all our conversation fails ; 
You never answer me again, 
I fear you're dumb, Matilda Jane ! 

Matilda, -darling, when I call 
You never seem to hear at all ; 
I shout with all my might and main, 
But you're so deaf, Matilda Jane ! 

Matilda Jane, you needn't mind. 
For though you're deaf, and dumb, and blind. 
There's some one loves you, it is plain, 
And that is uie, Matilda Jane ! 

In an earlier chapter I gave some of Mr. 



I 



i 



LEWIS CARROLL 411 

Dodgson's letters to Miss Edith Rix ; the two 
which follow, being largely about children, seem 
more appropriate here : — 

My dear Edith, — Would you tell your mother I was 
aghast at seeing the address of her letter to me : and I would 
much prefer " Rev. C. L. Dodgson, Ch. Ch., Oxford." When . 
a letter comes addressed "Lewis Carroll, Ch. Ch.," it either f 
goes to the Dead Letter Office, or it impresses on the minds ofl 
all letter-carriers, «S:c., through whose hands it goes, the very'' 
fact I least want them to know. 

Please offer to your sister all the necessary apologies for the 
liberty I have taken with her name. My only excuse is, that I 
know no other ; and how am I to guess what the full name is ? 
It may be Carlotta, or Zealot, or Ballot, or Lotus-blossom (a 
very pretty name), or even Charlotte. Never have I sent any- 
thing to a young lady of whom I have a more shadowy idea. 
Name, an enigma ; age, somewhere between i and 1 9 (you've 
no idea how bewildering it is, alternately picturing her as a little 
toddling thing of 5, and a tall girl of 15 !) ; disposition — well, I 
have a fragment of information on that question — your mother 
says, as to my coming, " It must be when Lottie is at home, 
or she would never forgive us." Still, I cannot consider the 
mere fact that she is of an unforgiving disposition as a com- 
plete view of her character. I feel sure she has some other 
qualities besides. 

Believe me, 

Yrs affectionately, 

C. L. Dodgson. 

My dear child, — It seems quite within the bounds of 
possibility, if we go on long in this style, that our correspon- 
dence may at last assume a really friendly tone. I don't of 
course say it will actually do so — that would be too bold a 



412 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

prophecy — but only that it may tend to shape itself in that 
direction. 

Your remark, that slippers for elephants could be made, only 
they would not be slippers, but boots, convinces me that there 
is a branch of your family in Ireland. Who are (oh dear, oh 
dear, I am going distracted ! There's a lady in the opposite 
house who simply sings all day. All her songs are wails, and 
their tunes, such as they have, are much the same. She has 
one strong note in her voice, and she knows it ! I think it's 
" A natural," but I haven't much ear. And when she gets to 
that note, she howls !) they ? The O'Rixes, I suppose ? 

About your uninteresting neighbours, I sympathise with you 
much ; but oh, I wish I had you here, that I might teach you 
not to say " It is difficult to visit one's district regularly, like 
every one else does ! " 

And now I come to the most interesting part of your letter — 
May you treat me as a perfect friend, and write anything you 
like to me, and ask my advice ? Why, of course you may, my 
child ! What else am I good for ? But oh, my dear child- 
friend, you cannot guess how such words sound to nie I That 
any one should look up to uie, or think of asking my advice — 
well, it makes one feel humble, I think, rather than proud — 
humble to remember, while others think so well of me, what I 
really am, in myself. " Thou, that teachest another, teachest 
thou not thyself?" Well, I won't talk about myself, it is not 
a healthy topic. Perhaps it may be true of any two people, 
that, . if one could see the other through and through, love 
would perish. I don't know. Anyhow, I like to have the love 
of my child-friends, tho' I know I don't deserve it. Please 
write as freely as ever you like. 

I went up to town and fetched Phoebe down here on Friday 
in last week ; and we spent most of Saturday upon the beach — 
Phcebe wading and digging, and "as happy as a bird upon 
the wing " (to quote the song she sang when first I saw her). 
Tuesday evening brought a telegram to say she was wanted at 



LEWIS CARROLL 



413 



the theatre next morning. So, instead of going to bed, Phoebe 
packed her things, and we left by the last train, reaching her 
home by a quarter to i a.m. However, even four days of sea- 
air, and a new kind of happiness, did her good, I think. I 
am rather lonely now she is gone. She is a very sweet child, 
and a thoughtful child, too. It was very touching to see (we^ 
had a little Bible-reading every day : I tried to remember that / 
my little friend had a soul to be cared for, as well as a body) / 
the far-away look in her eyes, when we talked of God and of I 
heaven — as if her angel, who beholds His face continually^ 
were whispering to her. 

Of course, there isn't much companionship possible, after 
all, between an old man's mind and a little child's, but what 
there is is sweet — and wholesome, I think. 

Three letters of his to a child-friend, Miss 
Kathleen Eschweo-e, now Mrs. Round, illustrate 
one of those friendships which endure : the sort 
of friendship that he always longed for, and so 
often failed to secure : — 

Ch. Ch., Oxford, 

October 24, 1879. 
My dear Kathleen, — I was really pleased to get your 
letter, as I had quite supposed I should never see or hear of 
you again. You see I knew only your Christian name — not 
the ghost of a surname, or the shadow of an address — and I 
was not prepared to spend my little all in advertisements — " If 
the young lady, who was travelling on the G.W. Railway, &c." 
— or to devote the remainder of my life to going about re- 
peating " Kathleen," like that young woman who came from 
some foreign land to look for her lover, but only knew that 
he was called "Edward" (or "Richard" was it? I dare 



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FACSIMILE OF A "LOOKING-GLASS LETTER" FROM LEWIS CARROLL TO 
MISS EDITH BALL. 



4i6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



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say you know History better than I do) and that he Uved 
in England ; so that naturally it took her some time to find 
him. All I knew was that yon could, if you chose, write to 
me through Macmillan : but it is three months since we met, 
so I was not expecting it, and it was a pleasant surprise. 

Well, so I hope I may now count you as one of my 
child-friends. I am fond of children (except boys), and 
have more child-friends than I could possibly count on my 
fingers, even if I were a centipede (by the way, have they 
fingers ? I'm afraid they're only feet, but, of course, they 
use them for the same purpose, and that is why no other 
insects, except centipedes, ever succeed in doing Long 
Multiplication), and I have several not so very far from 
you — one at Beckenham, two at Balham, two at Heme 
Hill, one at Peckham — so there is every chance of my 
being somewhere near you before the year 1979. If so, 
may I call ? I am very sorry your neck is no better, and I 
wish they would take you to Margate : Margate air will make 
any body well of any thing. 

It seems you have already got my two books about "Alice." 
Have you also got " The Hunting of the Snark " } If not, I 
should be very glad to send you one. The pictures (by Mr. 
Holiday) are pretty : and you needn't read the verses unless 
you like. 

How do you , pronounce your surname ? " esk-weej " ? or 
how ? Is it a German name ? 

If you can do " Doublets," with how many Unks do you 
turn KATH into LEEN ? 

With kind remembrances to your mother, I am 
Your affectionate friend, 

Charles L. Dodgson 

{alias " Lewis Carroll "). 



LEWIS CARROLL 417 

Ch. Ch., Oxford, 

jfaniiary 20, 1892. 

My dear Kathleen, — Some months ago I heard, from 
my cousin, May Wilcox, that you were engaged to be mar- 
ried. And, ever since, I have cherished the intention of 
writing to offer my congratulations. Some might say, " Why 
not write at once ? " To such unreasoning creatures, the 
obvious reply is, "When you have bottled some peculiarly 
fine Port, do you usually begin to drink it at once 1 " Is not 
that a beautiful simile ? Of course, I need not remark that 
my congratulations are like fine old Port — only finer, and 
older! 

Accept, my dear old friend, my heartiest wishes for happi- 
ness, of all sorts and sizes, for yourself, and for him whom you 
have chosen as your other self. And may you love one another 
with a love second only to your love for God — a love that will 
last through bright days and dark, days, in sickness and in 
health, through life and through death. 

A few years ago I went, in the course of about three months, 
to the weddings of three of my old child-friends. But wed- 
dings are not very exhilarating scenes for a miserable old 
bachelor ; and I think you'll have to excuse me from attending 
yours. 

However, I have so far concerned myself in it that I actually 
dreamed about it a few nights ago ! I dreamed that you had 
had a photograph done of the wedding-party, and had sent me 
a copy of it. At one side stood a group of ladies, among 
whom I made out the faces of Dolly and Ninty ; and in the 
foreground, seated in a boat, were two people, a gentleman 
and a lady I think (could they have been the bridegroom and 
the bride ?) engaged in the natural and usual occupation for a 
riverside picnic — pulling a Christmas cracker ! I have no idea 
what put such an idea into my head. / never saw crackers 
used in such a scene ! 

I hope your mother goes on well. With kindest regards to 



4i8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

her and your father, and love to your sisters — and to yourself 
too, if HE doesn't object ! — I am. 

Yours affectionately, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

P.S. — I never give wedding-presents ; so please regard the 
enclosed as an unwedding present. 

Ch. Ch., Oxford, 

December 8, 1897. 
Mv DEAR Kathleen, — Many thanks for the photo of your- 
self and your fiance, which duly reached me January 23, 1892. 
Also for a wedding-card, which reached me August 28, 1892. 
Neither of these favours, I fear, was ever acknowledged. Our 
only communication since, has been, that on December 13, 
1892, I sent you a biscuit-box adorned with " Looking-Glass " 
pictures. This you never acknowledged; so I was properly 
served for my negligence. I hope your little daughter, of 
whose arrival Mrs. Eschwege told me in December, 1893, has 
been behaving well? How quickly the years slip by ! It seems 
only yesterday that I met, on the railway, a little girl who was 
taking a sketch of Oxford ! 

Your affectionate old friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The following verses were inscribed in a copy 
of "Alice's Adventures," presented to the three 
Miss Drurys in August, 1869 : — 

To three puzzled little girls, from the Author. 

Three little maidens weary of the rail. 
Three pairs of little ears listening to a tale, 
Three little hands held out in readiness, 
For three little puzzles very hard to guess. 



I 



LEWIS CARROLL 419 

Three pairs of little eyes, open wonder-wide, 

At three little scissors lying side by side. 

Three little mouths that thanked an unknown Friend, 

For one little book, he undertook to send. 

Though whether they'll remember a friend, or book, or 

day — 
In three little weeks is very hard to say. 

He took the same three children to German 
Reed's entertainment, where the triple bill con- 
sisted of " Happy Arcadia," " All Abroad," and 
" Very Catching." A few days afterwards he 
sent them "Phantasmagoria," with a little poem 
on the fly-leaf to remind them of their treat : — 

Three little maids, one winter day. 

While others went to feed. 
To sing, to laugh, to dance, to play, 

More wisely went to — Reed, 

Others, when lesson-time's begun, 

Go, half inclined to cry. 
Some in a walk, some in a run ; 

But these went in a — Fly. 

I give to other little maids 

A smile, a kiss, a look. 
Presents whose memory quickly fades , 

I give to these — a Book. 

Happy Arcadia may blind, 

While all abroad, their eyes ; 
At home, this book (I trust) they'll find 

A very catching prize. 



420 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LEWIS CARROLL 

The next three letters were addressed to two i 
of Mr. Arthur Hughes' children. They are good 
examples of the wild and delightful nonsense with 
which Lewis Carroll used to amuse his little 
friends : — 

My dear Agnes, — You lazy thing ! What ? I'm to divide 
the kisses myself, am I ? Indeed I won't take the trouble to 
do anything o{ the sort ! But I'll tell yoii how to do it. First, 
you must take four of the kisses, and — and that reminds me of 
a very curious thing that happened to me at half-past four 
yesterday. Three visitors came knocking at my door, begging 
me to let them in. And when I opened the door, who do you 
think they were ? You'll never guess. Why, they were three 
cats ! Wasn't it curious ? However, they all looked so cross 
and disagreeable that I took up the first thing I could lay 
my hand on (which happened to be the rolling-pin) and 
knocked them all down as flat as pan-cakes ! "If you come 
knocking at my door," I said, " / shall come knocking at your 
heads." That was fair, wasn't it? " 

Yours affectionately, 

Lewis Carroll. 

My dear Agnes, — About the cats, you know. Of course 
I didn't leave them lying flat on the ground like dried flowers : 
no, I picked them up, and I was as kind as I could be to them. 
I lent them the portfolio for a bed — they wouldn't have been 
comfortable in a real bed, you know : they were too thin — but 
they were quite happy between the sheets of blotting-paper — 
and each of them had a pen-wiper for a pillow. Well, then I 
went to bed : but first I lent them the three dinner-bells, to 
ring if they wanted anything in the night. 

You know I have three dinner-bells — the first (which is the 




ARTHUR HUGHES AND HIS DAUGHTER AGNES. 
{From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.) 



422 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

largest) is rung when dinner is nearly ready ; the second (which 
is rather larger) is rung when it is quite ready ; and the third 
(which is as large as the other two put together) is rung all the 
time I am at dinner. Well, I told them they might ring if they 
happened to want anything — and, as they rang all the bells all 
night, I suppose they did want something or other, only I was 
too sleepy to attend to them. 

In the morning I gave them some rat-tail jelly and buttered 
mice for breakfast, and they were as discontented as they could 
be. They wanted some boiled pelican, but of course I knew 
it wouldn't be good ^or them. So all I said was " Go to Number 
Two, Finborough Road, and ask for Agnes Hughes, and if it's 
really good for you, she'll give you some." Then I shook hands 
with them all, and wished them all goodbye, and drove them up 
the chimney. They seemed very sorry to go, and they took the 
bells and the portfolio with them. I didn't find this out till 
after they had gone, and then I was sorry too, and wished for 
them back again. What do I mean by " them " ? Never 
mind. 

How are Arthur, and Amy, and Emily? Do they still go up 
and down Finborough Road, and teach the cats to be kind to 
mice ? I'm very fond of all the cats in Finborough Road. 

Give them my love. 

Who do I mean by " them " ? 

Never mind. 

Your affectionate friend, 

Lewis Carroll. 

My dear Amy, — How are you getting on, I wonder, with 
guessing those puzzles from " Wonderland " ? If you think 
you've found out any of the answers, you may send them to 
me ; and if they're wrong, I won't tell you they're right ! 

You asked me after those three cats. Ah ! The dear 
creatures ! Do you know, ever since that night they first came, 
they have never left me f Isn't it kind of them ? Tell Agnes 



LEWIS CARROLL 423 

this. She will be interested to hear it. And they are so kind 
and thoughtful ! Do you know, when I had gone out for a 
walk the other day, they got all my books out of the bookcase, 
and opened them on the floor, to be ready for me to read. 
They opened them all at page 50, because they thought that 
would be a nice useful page to begin at. It was rather unfor- 
tunate, though : because they took my bottle of gum, and tried 
to gum pictures upon the ceiling (which they thought would 
please me), and by accident they spilt a quantity of it all over 
the books. So when they were shut up and put by, the leaves 
all stuck together, and I can never read page 50 again in any 
of them ! 

However, they meant it very kindly, so I wasn't angry. I 
gave them each a spoonful of ink as a treat ; but they were 
ungrateful for that, and made dreadful faces. But, of course, 
as it was given them as a treat, they had to drink it. One of 
them has turned black since : it was a white cat to begin with. 

Give my love to any children you happen to meet. Also I 
send two kisses and a half, for you to divide with Agnes, Emily, 
and Godfrey. Mind you divide them fairly. 

Yours affectionately, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

The intelligent reader will make a discovery 
about the first of the two following letters, which 
Miss Maofg-ie Cunningham, the "child-friend" to 
whom both were addressed, perhaps did not hit 
upon at once. Mr. Dodgson wrote these two 
letters in 1868 : — 

Dear Maggie, — I found that the friend, that the little girl 
asked me to write to, lived at Ripon, and not at Land's End — 
a nice sort of place to invite to ! It looked rather suspicious 



424 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to me — and soon after, by dint of incessant inquiries, I found 
out that she was called Maggie, and lived in a Crescent ! Of 
course I declared, " After that " (the language I used doesn't 
matter), " I will not address her, that's flat ! So do not 
expect me to flatter." 

Well, I hope you will soon see your beloved Pa come back 
— for consider, should you be quite content with only Jack ? 
Just suppose they made a blunder ! (Such things happen now 
and then.) ReaUy, now, I shouldn't wonder if your "John " 
came home again, and your father stayed at school ! A most 
awkward thing, no doubt. How would you receive him ? 
You'll say, perhaps, "you'd turn him out." That would 
answer well, so far as concerns the boy, you know — but con- 
sider your Papa, learning lessons in a row of great inky school- 
boys ! This (though unlikely) might occur : " Haly " would 
be grieved to miss him (don't mention it to her). 

No carte has yet been done of me, that does real justice to 
my smile; and so I hardly like, you see, to send you one. 
However, I'll consider if I will or not — meanwhile, I send a 
little thing to give you an idea of what I look like when I'm 
lecturing. The merest sketch, you will allow — yet still I think 
there's something grand in the expression of the brow and in 
the action of the hand. 

Have you read my fairy tale in Aunt fudy^s Magazine ? If 
you have you will not fail to discover what I mean when I say 
"Bruno yesterday came to remind me that he was my god- 
son!" — on the ground that I "gave him a name" ! 

Your affectionate friend, 

C. L. DODGSON. 

P. 8. — I would send, if I were not too shy, the same message 
to " Haly " that she (though I do not deserve it^ not I !) has 
sent through her sister to me. My best love to yourself — to 
your Mother my kindest regards — to your small, fat, imperti- 
nent, ignorant brother my hatred. I think that is all. 



LEWIS CARROLL 



4^5 



My dear Maggie, — I am a very bad correspondent, I feac, 
but I hope you won't leave off writing to me on that account. 
I got the little book safe, and will do my best about putting my 
name in, if I can only manage to remember what day my 
birthday is — but one forgets these things so easily. 




WHAT I LOOK LIKE WHEN I'M LECTURING. 
[From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.) 

Somebody told me (a little bird, I suppose) that you had 
been having better photographs done of yourselves. If so, I 
hope you will let me buy copies. Fanny will pay you for 
them. But, oh Maggie, how can you ask for a better one of 
me than the one I sent ! It is one of the best ever done ! 



426 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Such grace, such dignity, such benevolence, such — as a great 
secret (please don't repeat it) the Queen sent to ask for a copy 
of it, but as it is against my rule to give in such a case, I was 
obliged to answer — 

" Mr. Dodgson presents his compliments to her Majesty, 
and regrets to say that his rule is never to give his photograph 
except -to young ladies." I am told she was annoyed about it, 
and said, " I'm not so old as all that comes to ! " and one 
doesn't like to annoy Queens ; but really I couldn't help it, 
you know. 

I will conclude this chapter with some remini- 
scences of Lewis Carroll, which have been kindly 
sent me by an old child-friend of his, Mrs. Mait- 
land, daughter of the late Rev. E. A. Litton, 
Rector of Naunton, and formerly Fellow of Oriel 
College and Vice- Principal of Saint Edmund's 
Hall :— 

To my mind Oxford will be never quite the same again 
now that so many of the dear old friends of one's childhood 
have " gone over to the great majority." 

Often, in the twilight, when the flickering firelight danced 
on the old wainscotted wall, have we — father and I — chatted 
over the old Oxford days and friends, and the merry times we 
all had together in Long Wall Street. I was a nervous, thin, 
remarkably ugly child then, and for some years I was left 
almost entirely to the care of Mary Pearson, my own particular 
attendant. I first remember Mr. Dodgson when I was about 
seven years old, and from that time until we went to live in 
Gloucestershire he was one of my most delightful friends. 

I shall never forget how Mr. Dodgson and I sat once under 



1 



LEWIS CARROLL 427 

a dear old tree in the Botanical Gardens, and how he told me, 
for the first time, Hans Andersen's story of the " Ugly Duck- 
ling." I cannot explain the charm of Mr. Dodgson's way of 
telling stories ; as he spoke, the characters seemed to be real 
flesh and blood. This particular story made a great impression 
upon me, and interested me greatly, as I was very sensitive 
about my ugly little self. I remember his impressing upon 
me that it was better to be good and truthful and to try not to 
think of oneself than to be a pretty, selfish child, spoiled and 
disagreeable ; and, after telling me this story, he gave me the 
name of "Ducky." "Never mind, little Ducky," he used often 
to say, " perhaps some day you will turn out a swan." 

I always attribute my love for animals to the teaching of 
Mr. Dodgson : his stories about them, his knowledge of their 
lives and histories, his enthusiasm about birds and butterflies 
enlivened many a dull hour. The monkeys in the Botanical 
Gardens were our special pets, and when we fed them with 
nuts and biscuits he seemed to enjoy the fun as much as I did. 

Every day my nurse and I used to take a walk in Christ 
Church Meadows, and often we would sit down on the soft 
grass, with the dear old Broad Walk quite close, and, when we 
raised our eyes, Merton College, with its walls covered with 
Virginian creeper. And how delighted we used to be to see 
the well-known figure in cap and gown coming, so swiftly, with 
his kind smile ready to welcome the "Ugly Duckling." I 
knew, as he sat beside me, that a book of fairy tales was 
hidden in his pocket, or that he would have some new game 
or puzzle to show me — and he would gravely accept a tiny 
daisy-bouquet for his coat with as much courtesy as if it had 
been the finest hot-house boiitonnicre. 

Two or three times I went fishing with him from the bank 
near the Old Mill, opposite Addison's Walk, and he quite 
entered into my happiness when a small fish came wriggling 
up at the end of my bent pin, just ready for the dinner of the 
little white kitten " Lily," which he had given me. 



428 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

My hair was a great trouble to me, as a child, for it would 
tangle, and Mary was not too patient with me, as I twisted 
about while she was trying to dress it. One day I received 
a long blue envelope addressed to myself, which contained a 
story-letter, full of drawings, from Mr. Dodgson. The first 
picture was of a little girl — with her hat off and her tumbled 
hair very much in evidence— asleep on a rustic bench under 
a big tree by the riverside, and two birds, holding what was 
evidently a very important conversation, above in the branches, 
their heads on one side, eyeing the sleeping child. Then there 
was a picture of the birds flying up to the child with twigs and 
straw in their beaks, preparing to build their nest in her hair. 
Next came the awakening, with the nest completed, and the 
mother-bird sitting on it ; while the father-bird flew round the 
frightened child. And then, lastly, hundreds of birds — the air 
thick with them — the child fleeing, small boys with tin trumpets 
raised to their lips to add to the confusion, and Mary, armed 
with a basket of brushes and combs, bringing up the rear ! 
After this, whenever I was restive while my hair was being 
arranged, Mary would show me the picture of the child with 
the nest on her head, and I at once became " as quiet as a 
lamb." 

I had a daily governess, a dear old soul, who used to come 
every morning to teach me. I disliked particularly the large- 
lettered copies which she used to set me ; and as I confided 
this to Mr. Dodgson, he came and gave me some copies him- 
self The only ones which I can remember were "Patience 
and water-gruel cure gout " (I always wondered what " gout " 
might be) and " Little girls should be seen and not heard " 
(which I thought unkind). These were written many times 
over, and I had to present the pages to him, without one blot 
or smudge, at the end of the week. 

One of the Fellows of Magdalen College at that time was a 
Mr. Saul, a friend of my father's and of Mr. Dodgson, and 
a great lover of music — his rooms were full of musical instru- 



1 



LEWIS CARROLL 429 

ments of every sort. Mr. Dodgson and father and I all went 
one afternoon to pay him a visit. At that time he was much 
interested in the big drum, and we found him when we arrived 
in full practice, with his music-book open before him. He 
made us all join in the concert. Father undertook the 'cello, 
and Mr. Dodgson hunted up a comb and some paper, and, 
amidst much fun and laughter, the walls echoed with the 
finished roll, or shake, of the big drum — a roll that was Mr. 
Saul's delight. 



My father died on August 27, 1897, and Mr. Dodgson on 
January 14, 1898. And we, who are left behind in this cold, 
weary world can only hope we may some day meet them 
again. Till then, oh ! Father, and my dear old childhood's 
friend, requiescatis in pace ! 



Bibliography 

" Notes on the First Two Books of Euclid. Oxford : 

Parker. 8vo. 6d.... ... ... ... ... i860 

" Photographs." (Printed for private circulation ; a list 
of negatives taken by the Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) 
Pp. 4, 4to (?)i86o 

"A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry," systemati- 
cally arranged, with formal definitions, postulates, 
and axioms. By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. 
Part I. Containing Points, Right Lines, Rec- 
tilinear Figures, Pencils and Circles. Oxford : 
Parker. Pp. xvi+164, 8vo. Cloth, paper label. 
5s i860 

" Rules for Court Circular." (A new game, invented by 
the Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) Pp. 4. (Reprinted in 
1862) i860 

"The Formulae of Plane Trigonometry," printed with 
symbols (instead of words) to express the " gonio- 
metrical ratios." By Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. 
Oxford: Parker. Pp. 19, 4to. Stitched, is. ... 1861 

" Notes on the First Part of Algebra." Oxford : 

Parker. 8vo. 6d ... ... ... ... 1861 

" Index to 'In Memoriam.'" [Suggested and edited by 
the Rev. C. L. Dodgson ; much of the actual work 
of compilation was done by his sisters]. London : 
Moxon. ... ... 1862 

431 



432 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"The Enunciations of Euclid, Books I. and II." 

Oxford: Printed at the University Press.... ... 1863 

" General List of (Mathematical) Subjects, and Cycle 
for Working Examples." Oxford : Printed at the 
University Press. ... ... ... ... ... 1863 

" Croquet Castles." (A new game invented by the Rev. 
C. L. Dodgson). London (?) Pp. 4. (Reprinted, 
with additions and alterations, in 1866 at Oxford.) 1863 

"The New Examination Statute." (A letter to the 

Vice-Chancellor.) Pp. 2, 4to. Oxford. ... ... 1864 

*'A Guide to the Mathematical Student in Reading, 
Reviewing, and Working Examples." By Charles 
Lutwidge Dodgson. Part I. Pure Mathematics. 
Oxford : Parker. Two leaves and pp. 27, 8vo. 
Stitched, is. ... ... ... ... ... 1864 

*'The Dynamics of a Parti-cle, with an Excursus on 
the New Method of Evaluation as applied to tt." 
Oxford : Vincent. Pp. 28, 8vo. (Three editions). 1865 

" Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." By Lewis 
Carroll, with forty-two illustrations by John 
Tenniel. London: Macmillan. Pp. 192, cr. 8vo. 
Cloth, gilt edges. 6s. ... ... ... ... 1865 

The ist edition (recalled) was printed in Oxford, and 
is very rare; all subsequent editions (1865 
onwards) by Richard Clay in London. Now 
in its 86th thousand. [People's Edition, price 
2S. 6d. ; first published in 1887. Now in its 70th 
thousand.] 

"Condensation of Determinants," being a new and 
brief method for computing their arithmetical 
values. By the Rev. C. L. Dodgson. From 
" The Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 84, 
1866." London : Taylor and Francis. Pp. 8, 
8vo. 1866 

"An Elementary Treatise on Determinants." London: 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 433 

Macmillan. (Printed in Oxford.) Pp. viii+143, 

4to. Cloth. los. 6d. 1867 

"The Fifth Book of EucUd Treated Algebraically, so 
far as it relates to Commensurable Magnitudes." 
With notes. By Charles L. Dodgson. Oxford 
and London : Parker. Two leaves and pp. 37, 
8vo. In wrapper, is. 6d. ... ... ... 1868 

"Algebraical Formulae for Responsions." Oxford: 

Printed at the University Press ... ... ... 1868 

"The Telegraph Cipher." (Invented, in 1868, by the 

Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) (?)i868 

" Phantasmagoria and other Poems." By Lewis Carroll. 
London : Macmillan. (Printed in Oxford.) Pp. 
viii+ 202, small 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges 1869 

" Aventures d' Alice au Pays de Merveilles." Par Lewis 
Carroll, ouvrage illustre de 42 vignettes par John 
Tenniel. Traduit de I'anglais, par H. Bue. 
London: Macmillan. Pp. 196, cr. 8vo. Cloth, 
gilt edges. 6s. (Now in its 2nd thousand.) ... 1869 

"Alice's Abenteuer im Wunderland.'' Von Lewis 
Carroll, mit zweiundvierzig lUustrationen von 
John Tenniel. Uebersetzt von Antonie Zimmer- 
mann. London: Macmillan. Pp.178, cr. 8vo. 
Cloth, gilt edges. 6s 1869 

" Gazette Extraordinary." Oxford : Printed at the 

University Press. ... ... ... ... ... 1870 

"Algebraical Formulae and Rules." Oxford: Printed 

at the University Press. ... ... ... -•• 1870 

" Arithmetical Formulae and Rules." Oxford : Printed 

at the University Press. ... ... ... ... 1870 

"To all Child Readers of 'Alice's Adventures in 

Wonderland.'" Pp.4 1871 

"Through the Looking- Glass and what Alice found 
there." By Lewis Carroll. With fifty illustrations 
by John Tenniel. London: Macmillan. Pp.224., 



434 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 6s. Now in its 

6ist thousand ... ... ... ... ... 1871 

[People's edition. Price 2s. 6d. First published in 
1887. Now in its 46th thousand.] 

"Le Avventure d'Alice nel Paese della Meraviglie." 
Per Lewis Carroll. Tradotte dall'inglese da T. 
Pietrocola-Rossetti. Con 42 vignette di Giovanni 
Tenniel. London: Macmillan. Pp. 189,, cr. 8vo. 
Cloth, gilt edges. 6s. ... ... 1872 

Circular to Hospitals offering copies of the two "Alice" 

books. London: Macmillan. ... ... ... 1872 

" Symbols, &c., to be used in Euclid, Books I. and IL" 

Oxford: Printed at the University Press ... 1872 

" Number of Propositions in Euclid." Oxford : Printed 

at the University Press. ... ... ... ... 1872 

" The New Belfry of Christ Church, Oxford." A Mono- 
graph. By D. C. L. Oxford: Parker. Pp. 2 + 31, 
cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 6d. (Five editions.) ... 1872 

" Enunciations, Euclid, I. -VI." Oxford : Printed at the 

University Press. ... ... ... ... ... 1873 

" Objections, submitted to the Governing Body of 
Christ Church, Oxford, against certain proposed 
alterations in the Great Quadrangle." Oxford : 
Printed at the University Press. Pp. 4, 4to. 
[Printed for Private Circulation.] ... ... ... 1873 

"The Vision of the Three T's." A Threnody. 
By the Author of " The New Belfry." Oxford : 
Parker. Pp. 37 + 3, 8vo. In wrapper, gd. (Three 
editions.) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1873 

" A Discussion of the Various Modes of Procedure in 
conducting Elections." Oxford : Printed at the 
University Press. ... ... ... ... ... 1873 

" Euclid, Book V. Proved Algebraically," so far as it 
relates to Commensurable Magnitudes. To which 
is prefixed a summary of all the necessary algebraical 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 435 

operations, arranged in order of difficulty. By 
Charles L. Dodgson. Oxford : Parker. Pp. viii + 
62, 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. ... ... ... ... 1874 

" Suggestions as to the Best Method of Taking Votes, 
where more than two Issues are to be voted on." 
Oxford : Hall and Stacy. Pp. 8, Svo 1874 

" The Blank Cheque." A Fable. By the Author of 
" The New Belfry," and " The Vision of The Three 
T's." Oxford: Parker. Pp. 14 + 2, cr. 8vo. In 
wrapper. 4d. ... ... ... ... ... 1874 

"Preliminary Algebra, and Euclid Book V." Oxford : 

Printed at the University Press. ... ... ... 1874 

" The Dynamics of a Parti-cle." Oxford : Parker. Pp. 

24, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 6d. ... ... ... 1874 

"The New Method of Evaluation as applied to tt." 

Oxford: Parker. Pp. 16, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 4d. 1874 

" Facts, Figures, and Fancies," relating to the Elections 
to the Hebdomadal Council, the Offer of the 
Clarendon Trustees, and the Proposal to convert 
the Parks into Cricket-Grounds. Oxford : Parker. 
Pp. 29 + 3, cr. 8vo. In wrapper. 8d. ... ... 1874 

" Notes by an Oxford Chiel." Oxford : Parker. Cr. 

8vo. Cloth, gilt edges 1874 

[This book consists of the following six pamphlets 
bound together — " The New Method of Evalua- 
tion," "The Dynamics of a Particle," "Facts, 
Figures, and Fancies," " The New Belfry," " The 
Vision of the Three T's," and "The Blank 
Cheque."] 

"Examples in Arithmetic." Oxford: Printed at the 

University Press. ... ... ... ••. ••• i874 

"Euclid, Books I. and II." Edited by Charles L. 
Dodgson. Oxford : Parker. Diagram, Title, 

Preface, and pp. 102, cr. 8vo. Cloth 1875 

[The book was circulated privately among Mathe- 



436 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

matical friends for hints. " Not yet published " 
was printed above title.] 
" The Professorship of Comparative Philology." (Three 
leaflets.) Oxford : Printed at the University 
Press. 
"A Method of taking Votes of more than two Issues." 
Oxford : Printed at the University Press. Pp. 20, 
cr. 8vo. 
[A note on the title-page runs as follows : "As I 
hope to investigate this subject further, and to 
publish a more complete pamphlet on the sub- 
ject, I shall feel greatly obliged if you will enter 
in this copy any remarks that occur to you, and 

return it to me any time before "] ... 

Letter and Questions to Hospitals. Oxford : Printed 

at the University Press. 
*'An Easter Greeting." 

[Reprinted in London, by Macmillan & Co., in 

1880.] 

"Fame's Penny Trumpet." Not published. Oxford: 
Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to. [Afterwards published in 
"Rhyme? and Reason?"] 
"The Hunting of the Snark." An Agony, in Eight 
Fits. By Lewis Carroll. With nine illustrations 
by Henry Holiday. London : Macmillan. Pp. 
xi+83, 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 4s. 6d. 
"The Responsions of Hilary Term, 1877." (A letter 
to the Vice-Chancellor.) Oxford: Printed at the 
University Press. 
"A Charade." (Written with a cyclostyle.) Pp. 4. ... 
"Word-Links." (A game, afterwards called "Doublets," 
invented by the Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) Oxford : 
Printed at the University Press. Pp. 4, 8vo. ... 1878 
[There is also a form written with a cyclostyle.] 
"Doublets." A Word-Puzzle. By Lewis Carroll. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 437 

London : Macmillan. Pp. 73, 8vo. Cloth. 2s, 

(2nd edition, 1880.) 1879 

" Euclid and His Modern Rivals." London: Macmillan, 

8vo. Cloth. 6s. (2nd edition, 1885. Pp.xxxi + 275,) 1879 

" Doublets." A Word-Puzzle. By Lewis Carroll. 
Oxford : Printed at the University Press. Pp. 8. 

8vo 1880 

[This Puzzle appeared in Vanity Fair, April 19, 1879.] 

" Letter from Mabel to Emily." To illustrate common 

errors in letter-writing. (Written with a cyclostyle.) 1880 

" Lize's Avonturen in het Wonderland." Naar het 
Engelsch. [A Dutch version of " Alice in Wonder- 
land."] Nijmegen. 4to (?)i88i 

" On Catching Cold." (A pamphlet, consisting of 
extracts from two books by Dr. Inman.) Oxford : 
Printed at the University Press. ... ... ... 1881 

Jabberwocky." (Lewis Carroll's Poem, with A. A. 
Vansittart's Latin rendering.) Oxford : Printed 
at the University Press. ... ... ... ... 1881 

Notice re Concordance to "In Memoriam." Oxford : 

Printed at the University Press ... 1881 

" Lanrick." A Game for Two Players. Oxford : 

Printed at the University Press. ... ... ... 1881 

A Circular about the " School of Dramatic Art." 

Oxford: Printed at the University Press. ... 1882 

" An Analysis of the Responsions — Lists from Michael- 
mas, 1873, to Michaelmas, 1881." Oxford : Printed 
at the University Press. ... ... ... ... 1882 

Circular asking for suggestions for a Girls' Edition of 
Shakespeare. Oxford : Printed at the University 
Press. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1882 

[Two different forms, one pp. 2, the other pp. 4.] 

" Euclid, Books L and IL" London : Macmillan. 

Printed in Oxford. Pp. xi+io8. 8vo. Cloth. 2s. 1882 
[Seven editions were subsequently published.] 



438 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"Dreamland." A Song. Words by Lewis Carroll; 
music by Rev. C. E. Hutchinson. Oxford : Printed 
at the University Press. ... ... ... ... 1882 

" Mischmasch." (A game invented by the Rev. C. L. 
Dodgson.) Oxford : Printed at the University 
Press. Two editions. ... ... ... ... 1882 

"Rhyme? and Reason?" By Lewis Carroll. With 
sixty-five illustrations by Arthur B. Frost, and nine 
by Henry Holiday. London : Macmillan. Pp. 
xii + 214, or. 8vo. Cloth. 7s. (Now in its 6th 
thousand.) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1883 

[This book is a reprint, with a few additions, of 
"The Hunting of the Snark," and of the 
comic portions of " Phantasmagoria and Other 
Poems."] 

"Lawn Tennis Tournaments: the True Method of 
Assigning Prizes, with a Proof of the Fallacy of the 
Present Method." London : Macmillan. Printed 
in Oxford. 8vo 1883' 

" Rules for Reckoning Postage." Oxford: Baxter. ... 18: 

"Twelve Months in a Curatorship." By One who has 
tried it. Oxford: Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 52, 
8vo 18. 

Supplement to Ditto. Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. ' 
Pp. 8, 8vo ''18: 

Postscript to Ditto. Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. 

Pp. 2, 8vo 1884 

" Christmas Greetings." London: Macmillan. ... 1884 

"The Profits of Authorship." By Lewis Carroll. 

London: Macmillan. 8vo. 6d ... ... 1884 

"The Principles of Parliamentary Representation."^ 
London : Harrison. Pp. 56, 8vo. (Reprinted 
in 1885.) 1884 

Supplement to Ditto. Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. 

Pp. 8, 8vo. Two editions .. . ... ... ... 1885 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



439 



1885 



Postscript to Supplement to Ditto. Oxford : Printed 

by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, Svo. Two editions. ... 1885 

Supplement to First Edition of " Euclid and His 
Modern Rivals." London : Macmillan. Svo. 

^'A Tangled Tale." By Lewis Carroll. With six illus- 
trations by Arthur B. Frost. London : Macmillan. 
Printed in Oxford. Pp. 152, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt 
edges. 4s. 6d. (Now in its 4th thousand.) ... 1885 
•[First appeared in Monthly Packet, April, 1882- 
November, 1884. There are also separate re- 
prints of each "Knot," and of the Answers to 
"Knots" L and II.] 
*' Proposed Procuratorial Cycle." Oxford: Printed by 

E. Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to. ... 1885 

"The Procuratorial Cycle. Further Remarks." Oxford: 

Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 3, 4to. 1885 

"Suggestions as to the Election of Proctors." Oxford : 
Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, 4to. (Reprinted, 
with additions, in 1886.) ... ... ... ... 1885 

^' Alice's Adventures Under Ground." By Lewis Carroll. 

With thirty-seven illustrations by the author. 

London: Macmillan. Pp. viii-l-95, cr. 8vo. Cloth, 

gilt edges. 4s. (Now in its 4th thousand.) ... 1886 

[This book is a facsimile of the original Manuscript 

story, afterwards developed into "Alice in 

Wonderland."] 

" Three Years in a Curatorship." By one whom it has 

tried. Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 32, 

cr. 8vo 1886 

" Remarks on the Report of the Finance Committee." 
Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 8, cr. 

Svo. 1S86 

" Remarks on Mr. Sampson's Proposal." Oxford : 

Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 4, cr. Svo 1886 



440 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

" Observations on Mr. Sampson's Proposal." Oxford : 

Printed by E. Baxter. Pp. 12, 8vo 1889 

" First Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by E. 

Baxter. Pp. 2, 8vo 1886 

" Fourth Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by E. 

Baxter. Pp. 3, 8vo. 1886 

" Fifth Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by E. 

Baxter. Pp. 4, 8vo. 1887 

" Sixth Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by E. 

Baxter. Pp. 4, 8vo. ... ... ... ... 1887 

" Questions in Logic." Oxford : Printed by E. Baxter. 

Pp. 4, fcap. fol 1887 

" Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ; and Through the 
Looking-Glass." People's editions, i vol. London: 
Macmillan. Cr. 8vo. Cloth. 4s. 6d. ... ... 1887 

*' The Game of Logic." By Lewis Carroll. London : 

Macmillan. Pp. 96, cr. 8vo. Cloth. 3s. ... 1887 

"Curiosa Mathematica, Part I. A New Theory of 
Parallels." By C. L. Dodgson. London : Mac- 
millan. Pp. 75. 8vo. Cloth. 2s. (Reprinted 
in 1889, 1890, and 1895.) 1888 

"Memoria Technica." [Written with a cyclostyle.] 

Pp. 4 1888 

"Circular Billiards for Two Players." Invented, in 

1889, by Lewis Carroll. Two editions. ... ...(?)i889 

" Sylvie and Bruno." By Lewis Carroll. With forty- 
six illustrations by Harry Furniss. London : Mac- 
millan. Pp. xxiii + 400, cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges. 
(Now in its 13th thousand.) ... ... ... 1889 

[The picture on p. 77 was drawn by Miss Alice 
Havers.] 

*'The Nursery 'Alice.'" Containing twenty coloured 
enlargements from Tenniel's illustrations to 
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." With text 
adapted to nursery readers by Lewis Carroll. The 



I 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



441 



cover designed and coloured by E. Gertrude 
Thomson. London : Macmillan. Pp. 56, 4to. 
Boards. 4s. (Now in its nth thousand.) ... 1890 

"Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter- Writing." 
By Lewis Carroll. Oxford : Emberlin and Son. 
(Now in its 5th edition.) ... ... ... ... 1890 

[This pamphlet is sold with the " Wonderland " 
Postage-Stamp Case, published by Messrs. 
Emberlin and Son.] 

"The Stranger Circular." (A leaflet sent by Mr. 
Dodgson to people who wrote to him about his 
" Lewis Carroll " books, addressing the envelope 
to Rev. C. L. Dodgson.) Oxford : Printed by 
Sheppard. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1890 

Circular, asking friends to send addresses of stationers 
likely to sell the "Wonderland" Postage-Stamp 
Case. Oxford: Printed by Sheppard 1890 

Circular sent to various Hospitals, offering free copies 
of Lewis Carroll's books. Oxford : Printed by 
Sheppard. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1890 

List of Institutions to which above was to be sent. 

Oxford: Printed by Sheppard. ... ... ... 1890 

Circular, addressed to the Governing Body of Christ 
Church, Oxford, about the proposal to invite M.A.'s 
to dine at High Table. ... ... ... ... 1891 

"A Postal Problem." June, 189 1 1891 

Ditto, Supplement. ... ... ... ... ... 189 1 

A Circular about Resignation of Curatorship. Oxford : 

Printed by Sheppard. ... ... ... ... 1892 

A Circular about " unparliamentary " words used by 
some competitors in the " Syzygies " competition 
in The Lady. Oxford: Printed by Sheppard. ... 1892 

" Curiosissima Curatoria." By 'Rude Donatus.' (A 
Pamphlet sent to all resident members of Christ 
Church Common Room.) Oxford : Printed by 
Sheppard 1892 



442 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

" Eighth Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by 

Sheppard. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1892 

[A revised version of one page was printed in same 
year.] 

*' Ninth Paper on Logic." Oxford : Printed by Shep- 
pard.... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1892 

*' Notes to Logic Papers Eight and Nine." Oxford : 

Printed by Sheppard. ... ... ... ... 1892 

*' Curiosa Mathematica, Part IIL Pillow Problems," 
thought out during wakeful hours, by C. L. 
Dodgson. London, Macmillan : Printed in Oxford. 
Pp. xvii+109, 8vo. Cloth, ist and 2nd editions. 
(Reprinted in 1894, 1895.) ... ... ... 1893 

*' Syzygies and Lanrick." By Lewis Carroll. London : 

The Lady office. Pp. 26. 6d. ... ... ... 1893 

" Sylvie and Bruno Concluded." By Lewis Carroll. 
With forty-six illustrations by Harry Furniss. 
London: Macmillan. Pp. xxi-(-423, cr. 8vo. 
Cloth, gilt edges. 7s. 6d. (Now in its 3rd 
thousand.) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1893 

[The picture on p. 409 was drawn by Miss Alice 
Havers.] 

'' A Disputed Point in Logic." ... ... ... ... 1894 

" What the Tortoise said to Achilles." (Reprinted from 

Mind, December, 1894.) Pp. 4. ... ... ... 1894 

*' A Fascinating Mental Recreation for the Young." (A 
circular about Symbolic Logic, signed " Lewis 
Carroll.") (?)i895 

" Resident Women-Students." (A circular, signed 
" Charles L Dodgson.") Oxford : Printed by 
Sheppard. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1896 

*' Symbohc Logic. Part I. Elementary." By Lewis 
Carroll. London: Macmillan. Pp. xxxi+192, 
cr. 8vo. Cloth. 2s. (Now in its 4th 
edition.) ... ... 1896 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 443 

"Three Sunsets and Other Poems." By Lewis Carroll. 
With twelve Fairy-Fancies byE. Gertrude Thomson. 
London : Macmillan. Pp. 68, fcap. 4to. Cloth, 
gilt edges. 4s. ... ... ... ... ••• 1898 

[This book is a reprint, with additions, of the serious 
portions of " Phantasmagoria and Other 
Poems.] 
" To my Child- Friend." (A poem, reprinted in " The 

Game of Logic") Pp.2 No date 

" The Alphabet-Cipher." No date 



INDEX 



Abdy, Miss Dora, 331 
Albany, The Duchess of, 285 
" Alice's Adventures in Wonder- 
land," 104 
" Alice's Adventures Under- 
ground," 96, 236, 256 
"Alice " Operetta, The, 252, 280 
AUce, Princess, 156, 297 
"Alice, The Nursery," 292 
Allen, Mrs. Egerton, 395 
Anderson, Mrs., 102 
Atkinson, Miss G., 408 
Atkinson, Rev. F. H,, 231, 292, 
361 

B 

Baden-Powell, Sir George, 343 
Bayne, Rev. T. Vere, 14 
Bennie, Mrs., 99 
" Blank Cheque, The," 164 
Bowman, Miss Isa, 280, 391, 

399> 403 
Bremer, Miss, 372 
" Bruno's Revenge," 109 



Calverley, C. S., 152 
Chataway, Miss G., 379 
Chevalier, Albert, 316 
Circle-squarers, 216, 283 
College Rhymes, 66 
College Servants, 307 
Comic Times, The, 62 
Cook Wilson, Professor, 315, 

324 
Croft, 15 
Cunningham, Miss M., 423 



D 

Daresbury, 9 

" Deserted Parks, The," 207 

" Determinants, An Elementary 

Treatise bn," no 
Dodgson, Archdeacon, 7, 53, 61, 

131 
Dodgson, Captain, 6 
Dodgson, Mrs., 8, 47 
" Dotheboys Hall," 68 
" Dreamland," 221 



445 



446 



INDEX 



Drury, Miss, 310, 418 
Dymes, Miss, 408 
" Dynamics of a Parti-cle, The," 
159 

E 

Egerton, Lord Francis, 9 
Elphin, The Bishop of, 5 
Elsdon, 3 

Eschwege, Miss K., 413 
Eternal Punishment, 76, 326 
" EucHd and His Modern 

Rivals," 201 
" Euchd, Books I. and II.," 223 
"Euclid, Book v.," 132 
Exhibition, The Great, 51 



"Facts, Figures, and Fancies," 

161 
Freiligrath-Kroeker, Mrs., 211, 

286 
Frost, A. B., 244 
Furniss, Harry, 199, 236, 259, 

319 



" Game of Logic, The," 259, 

332 
Gatty, Mrs., 109 
General Elections, 232 

H 

Harrison^, Frederic, 352 
Holiday, Henry, 171 
Hopley, Rev. H., 327 



Hughes, Arthur, 102 

Hughes, Miss Agnes, 420 

" Hunting of the vSnark, The," 

171 
Hutchinson, Rev. C. E., 221 

J 

Jabbeiwock, The, 274 
Jackson, Miss F., 409 
Jelf, Canon, 46, 351 
Jowett, Dr., 90, 159 

K 

Kean, Mrs., 60 
Kingsley, Henry, 142 
Kitchin, Miss Alexandra (Xie), 
367 



" Lays of Sorrow," 37 
Liddell, Dr., 58, 212, 295 
Liddell, Miss Alice, 94, 104, 236, 

256, 365 
Liddon, Canon, 74, iii, 123, 

139 
" Little Minister, The," 342 

Longley, Archbishop, 56 

M 

Macdonald, George, 83, 97 

Maitland, Mrs., 426 

Manners, Miss M. E., 247, 284, 

365, 398 
Maurier, George du, 138, 199 
Mechanical "HumptyDumpty," 

The, 311 



INDEX 



447 



" Memoria Technica," 268 
Misch-Masch, 62 
Moscow, 118 

N 

Natural Science, 187 

" New Belfry, The," 163 

" New Method of Evaluation, 

The," 158 
" New Theory of Parallels, 

The," 281 
Nijni Novgorod, 119 
" Notes by an Oxford Chiel," 

157 



Paget, Dean, 157, 297, 326, 349 

Paget, Sir James, 72, 231 

Paine, Miss Adelaide, 373 

Patmore, Coventry, 294 

Paton, Sir Noel, 130, 199 

" Phantasmagoria," 136 

" Pillow Problems," 320 

Potsdam, 114 

Price, Professor, 353 

" Profits of Authorship, The " 

226 
Pusey, Dr., 48, 53 

R 

Rectory Umbrella, The, 31 

" Rhyme ? and Reason ? " 228 

Richmond, 21 

Rix, Miss Edith, 131, 240, 250, 

411 
Rugby, 26 
Ruskin, John, 72, 102, 157 



Salisbury, The Marquis of, 140, 

156 

St. Petersburg, 116 
Sanday, Professor, 349 
Simpson, Miss Gaynor, 377 
Smedley, Frank, 62 
Standen, Miss Isabel, 243, 369 
"Sylvie and Bruno," 165, 238, 

259, 286 
" Sylvie and Bruno Concluded," 

309> 318 
" Symbolic Logic, Part I.," 332 
"Syzygics," 209 



Tait, Archbishop, 26 

" Tangled Tale, A," 244 

Taylor, Tom, 184 

Tenniel, Sir John, 97, 130, 146, 

199 
Tennyson, Alfred, 69, 78, 92 
Terry, Miss Ellen, 68, 181, 192 
Terry, Miss Kate, 184 
Thackeray, W. M., 72 
Thomson, Miss E. G., 193, 317, 

355 

"Three Sunsets," 198, 317, 354 

"Through the Looking-Glass," 
142 

Train, The, 64 

" Twelve Months in a Curator- 
ship," 303 



V 



Vansittart, A. A., 143 



448 



INDEX 



" Vision of The Three T's, The," 

164 
Vivisection, 165, 238 

W 

Wilberforce, Bishop, 74 
"Wise Words on Letter- 
Writing," 277 



" Wonderland " Stamp-Case, 

The, 277 
Woodhouse, Rev. G. C, 47, 341 



Yates, Edmund, 62 
Yonge, Miss Charlotte M., 
108 



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